Israel’s recent military campaign against Iran marked an unprecedented escalation in the long-running shadow war over Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, with the targeted killing of at least 14 of Iran’s top nuclear scientists and experts.

This operation, openly acknowledged by Israeli officials, targeted chemists, physicists, engineers, and materials and explosives specialists who, according to Israel, were deeply involved in the creation, fabrication, and production of nuclear weapons—not merely for their academic knowledge, but for their direct roles in advancing Iran’s weapons program.

According to Israel’s ambassador to France, Joshua Zarka, these assassinations were intended to strike at the very core of Iran’s nuclear know-how. He stated that the elimination of this group “basically throws back the program by a number of years, by quite a number of years,” making it “almost” impossible for Iran to build nuclear weapons from whatever infrastructure and material survived nearly two weeks of Israeli airstrikes and massive U.S. bunker-buster bombings.

Nine of the 14 scientists were reportedly killed in the opening wave of Israeli attacks on June 13, with the remainder targeted in subsequent strikes.

Despite the severity of this blow, nuclear analysts and European officials caution that the effect is likely to be temporary. Iran’s nuclear program is supported by decades of accumulated expertise and a broad base of scientific talent, meaning that other scientists—though perhaps less experienced—can eventually step in to continue the work.

As Mark Fitzpatrick, a former U.S. diplomat specialising in nuclear non-proliferation, explained, “Blueprints will be around and, you know, the next generation of Ph.D. students will be able to figure it out.

Bombing nuclear facilities or killing the people will set it back some period of time. Doing both will set it back further, but it will be reconstituted”. U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy echoed this, telling Parliament, “Strikes cannot destroy the knowledge Iran has acquired over several decades, nor any regime ambition to deploy that knowledge to build a nuclear weapon”.

The Israeli campaign appears to have a secondary objective: deterrence. By targeting those most deeply involved in weaponization, Israel aims to make potential successors “think twice” before participating in future nuclear weapons programs. However, experts warn of the limitations and ethical ambiguities of this approach.

While the loss of key personnel is a serious setback, the underlying scientific knowledge and motivation remain, and the program can be rebuilt over time. There are also legal and moral questions about the legitimacy of such targeted killings under international humanitarian law, which prohibits the deliberate killing of civilians and non-combatants unless they are directly participating in hostilities.

Historically, Israel has been suspected of assassinating Iranian nuclear scientists, but this is the first time it has so openly claimed responsibility for such a large-scale operation. The Iranian government has consistently accused Israel of orchestrating these attacks to disrupt its nuclear program, and the latest killings have further inflamed regional tensions, with Iran vowing retaliation.

Israel’s targeted killing of at least 14 Iranian nuclear scientists represents a major tactical blow to Iran’s nuclear program and is intended to delay, disrupt, and deter further progress toward weaponization. However, experts agree that military force alone cannot eradicate Iran’s nuclear knowledge or ambitions, and that only a negotiated solution can address the underlying proliferation concerns.

Based On A AP Report