The death toll of Iranian nuclear scientists targeted in a series of covert Israeli operations has reached 10, following the assassination of Dr. Seyed Isar Tabatabaei Qomsheh and his wife at their residence in Tehran on Saturday.
Dr. Tabatabaei, a prominent physicist affiliated with Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation, was regarded as one of the leading experts in reactor physics. He and his wife were reportedly killed in a targeted strike at their private residence in the early hours of the morning. Iranian authorities have not publicly disclosed the method of the attack but confirmed both deaths.
The latest killing comes in the aftermath of a coordinated Israeli operation dubbed “Operation Narnia,” which earlier this week eliminated nine senior Iranian nuclear scientists simultaneously at their respective homes.
According to sources cited in Iranian state-affiliated outlets, the strike was carried out using what Israeli officials have vaguely referred to as a “classified” or “special” weapon.
The broader campaign, reportedly part of Israel’s “Operation Rising Lion,” appears to mirror the 2020 assassination of Iran’s top nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who was killed outside Tehran in a remote-controlled ambush widely attributed to Israeli intelligence services.
While there has been no official Israeli confirmation of the strikes, senior Israeli security officials, speaking to international media on condition of anonymity, have hinted that the operations were aimed at “disrupting Iran’s irreversible nuclear progress.” They further claimed the targeted individuals were involved in sensitive projects that posed a “direct threat” to Israel’s security.
