As Israeli jets struck navy targets, high-ranking officers and nuclear-related services in Iran through the opening salvo of Operation Rising Lion, there was one other extraordinarily high-stakes clandestine mission going down. Code-named Operation Narnia, Israeli operatives reportedly used a “secret weapon” to concurrently kill 9 of Iran’s high nuclear scientists as they slept of their beds, in keeping with Israel’s N12 information outlet. It was the most recent transfer in Israel’s long-time effort to blunt Iranian nuclear ambitions by killing off the individuals able to advancing this system.
Officers declined to say what this particular weapon, “which stays underneath censorship and has not been disclosed publicly,” was, the Occasions of Israel defined. The Warfare Zone can not confirm these claims. Nevertheless, as we have now beforehand reported, Israel hit residences of high-value people with smaller munitions and Mossad used drones and anti-tank guided missiles inside Iran (extra on these later) on the primary night time of its assault. These focused assassinations proceed at the moment, though not in the identical quantity seen through the opening acts of the battle. It stays potential that a few of these techniques have been used within the assassination of the scientists.
Dubbed Operation Narnia, #Israel’s opening assault in opposition to #Iran noticed the simultaneous killing of 9 of Tehran’s high ten nuclear scientists of their beds. They have been killed utilizing a particular weapon whose particulars have been barred from publication. 1/2https://t.co/Tn6uT2rRT4
— Jason Brodsky (@JasonMBrodsky) June 20, 2025
Israeli intelligence intentionally orchestrated simultaneous hits because the opening blow of the battle to keep away from any likelihood of warning or escape, in keeping with the N12 report. In earlier incidents, Iranian nuclear scientists had typically been focused with automobile bombs and drive-by shootings whereas commuting. Because of this, these public occasions set off alarms and spurred elevated safety for different potential high-value targets.
For a motive not but clear, whereas 9 scientists have been killed, a tenth scientist escaped the preliminary assault however was killed later.
“These scientists believed their houses have been protected zones,” a senior Israeli official advised N12. “They by no means imagined they’d be reached of their bedrooms.”
Israeli intelligence officers advised N12 that killing the scientists was an important a part of the opening section of Operation Rising Lion. Air defenses, ballistic missile techniques, and command and management nodes are necessary and tough to switch. Nevertheless, the officers emphasised that “the information of those individuals is irreplaceable. It takes a few years, if any, to regroup these minds who every labored for 20-40 years on the nuclear and weapons program.”
“There’s a long-term impact right here for greater than a few years,” the officers added.
The nuclear scientists who have been eradicated “had been concerned for many years in selling nuclear weapons – a vital part of the Iranian regime’s plan to destroy the State of Israel,” in keeping with the publication.
Given the significance of the scientists, Israel monitored them for years utilizing “dozens of researchers within the IDF Intelligence Division’s Analysis Division,” N12 said. “This was a mixed group of know-how researchers and consultants within the Iranian enviornment.”
The operation intensified over the previous 12 months, and the scientists grew to become “targets” final November, when the choice was made to strike the opening blow to this battle. Operation Narnia “merely worn out the complete high Iranian nuclear scientists who maintain all of the information concerning the nuclear and enrichment [programs].”
In line with the Occasions of Israel, the scientists killed have been recognized as: “Fereydoon Abbasi, professional in nuclear engineering; Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi, professional in physics; Akbar Motalebi Zadeh, professional in chemical engineering; Saeed Barji, professional in supplies engineering; Amir Hassan Fakhahi, professional in physics; Abd al-Hamid Minoushehr, professional in reactor physics; Mansour Asgari, professional in physics; Ahmad Reza Zolfaghari Daryani, professional in nuclear engineering; and Ali Bakhouei Katirimi, professional in mechanics.”
ASSASSINATED:
These are the 9 Senior Nuclear Scientists and Specialists within the Iranian Nuclear Mission that have been killed by the IDF.
Every one served to advance the Iranian nuclear venture and possessed many years of accrued expertise within the improvement of nuclear weapons.
All of… pic.twitter.com/6Kp02VJCdm
— Edward (@DonKlericuzio) June 14, 2025
Israel has used unconventional technique of killing Iranian nuclear scientists earlier than. In November 2020, Iranian officers mentioned that Israel killed a high nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh utilizing a machine gun in both a remote-controlled or solely automated mount on a pickup truck, with no precise human assassins current.
You possibly can see photos of the aftermath of that assault under.
It stays unclear whether or not the scientists have been killed by a weapon delivered from the air or launched from the bottom, probably in shut proximity to its goal. As we famous in a earlier story, Mossad operatives used remotely operated Rafael Spike precision-guided missile techniques through the preliminary section of Rising Lion to destroy air defenses round Tehran. These missiles are man-in-the-loop guided and permit operators to fly the missile to a extremely particular level earlier than detonation. They will even loiter for brief durations of time. Video of that operation emerged on social media, which you’ll see under.
Photos of Mossad operatives in Iran conducting strikes in a single day. Seem to probably use Spike ATGMs to hit air defence belongings. https://t.co/01v0na4rbx
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