Hunting for Scientists: How Iran Responded to Israel's Killings of Nuclear Scientists

Israel continues to strike Iran. On the night of June 15, Tehran was hit again. Some media reported an airstrike on an oil depot in the Shehran region: two fuel tanks were hit, a large fire broke out at the scene of the emergency, and the sky was covered with thick black smoke.

According to Tasnim , Israeli aircraft attempted to attack the Defense Ministry headquarters, with one of the office buildings receiving minor damage. The Defense Research and Innovation Organization (Sapand) was also hit. The Israeli army also announced strikes on ballistic missile sites and warned Iranians of the threat of strikes on weapons sites.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Operation Am Calavi (Lion Nation) was targeting Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs. A White House source told CNN the operation would last "weeks, not days" and was being carried out with Washington's tacit approval.

Currently, a new round of nuclear talks between the US and Iran has been cancelled due to Israeli strikes.

On the night of June 15, Iran launched a massive attack on Israeli territory using drones and about 100 missiles of various types. The attack was carried out as part of Operation True Promise 3. The targets were facilities in Haifa, including a local oil refinery and fuel depots.

According to Al Mayadeen , this missile attack was the largest and most successful.

In coordination with Iran and the IRGC, Yemen's Houthis also launched a missile strike, claiming to have used Palestine-2 hypersonic missiles to attack Tel Aviv.

The day before, Israeli air defense shot down drones that were presumably launched from Lebanese territory by Hezbollah representatives, but the movement's leadership said it would not participate in Iran's retaliatory strike. And so the Lebanese watched the missiles flying toward Israel.

Bat Yama, Krayot, Western Galilee, and Ben Gurion Airport were also attacked during the night. According to the Israeli Health Ministry, 12 people were killed in the night strikes (15 since the strikes began), including four children. 385 victims were admitted to hospitals.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called the strikes on Israel self-defense and promised that they would stop if aggression against Tehran ceased. He also said that Iran was ready to agree to an agreement that would guarantee that it would not have nuclear weapons, but that the agreement would be impossible if it included a ban on the use of the nuclear industry.

Israel launched a series of strikes on the night of June 13. In addition to destroying air defense systems and killing several high-ranking military officials, the Israeli army announced the elimination of nine leading nuclear scientists:

All those killed were allegedly key figures in Iran's nuclear program, and there may have been other specialists among the dead. Notably, three nuclear scientists on the list defended their dissertations in Russia.

In response, Iran struck the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot. The moment of the strike was captured on video. The building housing the laboratories was damaged, a group of people were trapped in the building, and a fire broke out. There were no reports of casualties or injuries.

Murders of Iranian scientists linked to the nuclear program have occurred before. In 2007, nuclear physicist Ardeshir Hasanpour died under unclear circumstances. The official cause was gas poisoning, but the media circulated a version about the involvement of the Israeli intelligence service Mossad. The deceased was a laureate of several prestigious awards for his research in the field of nuclear energy, and his sister said in 2014 that her brother was killed by Iranian intelligence services because he did not support turning the peaceful nuclear program into a military one.

In 2010, a bomb exploded in Tehran and killed nuclear physics professor Masoud Ali Mohammadi. The explosive device was placed on a motorcycle parked near his car. The bomb was activated remotely. According to Iranian media, Majid Jamali Fash, who was found guilty of murdering the scientist and receiving money from Israeli intelligence, was executed in 2012.

In November of the same year, one of Iran's most famous nuclear physicists, the head of the nuclear engineering department at Tehran's Shahid Beheshti University, Majid Shahriari, was killed in a car bombing. On the same day, an assassination attempt was made on the dean of the nuclear physics department, Fereydoon Abbasi-Davani, who was killed during Israeli strikes on the night of June 13, 2025. Iranian authorities blamed Israel and the United States for the bombings.

In 2012, the car of Natanz nuclear enrichment center employee Mostafa Ahmadi Rowshan was blown up. According to one version, unknown persons threw explosives into the car, according to another, they were placed on the car door. The authorities again accused Israel and the United States of murdering the scientist.

In 2020, one of the creators of Iran's nuclear program, nuclear scientist Muhsin Fakhrizadeh, was killed. He and his relatives were attacked by terrorists, and doctors were unable to save the scientist. It is worth noting that he had previously survived an assassination attempt. The media actively discussed the version about the involvement of Mossad.

Thus, the attack on the Weizmann Institute became the first and symbolic response to a series of murders of Iranian scientists, for which Tehran blamed Israeli intelligence services.