Assassination Of Iranian Nuclear Scientists

Since 2010, multiple Iranian nuclear scientists have been killed in foreign-linked assassinations. Five were killed from 2010 to 2020 by car bombings or shootings. Fereydoon Abbasi was among the scientists who survived an assassination attempt in 2010, an assassination that killed another nuclear scientist, Majid Shahriari. Finally, Abbasi was killed on 13 June 2025 during Israeli strikes on the Iranian nuclear program.

Other notable scientists killed in the Israeli airstrikes include Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi, Abdolhamid Minouchehr, Ahmad Reza Zolfaghari, Amir Hassan Fakhahi, Akbar Motallebzadeh, Ali Bahuei Katirimi, Mansour Asgari, and Saeed Borji.

The Iranian government accused Israel of complicity in the killings in order to disrupt Iran's nuclear program. In 2011 and 2012, Iranian authorities arrested a number of Iranians alleged to have carried out the assassination campaign on behalf of Mossad (the Israeli intelligence service). Western intelligence services and U.S. officials reportedly confirmed the Israeli connection. Israel neither confirmed nor denied its role in the assassinations. Israeli defense minister Moshe Ya'alon said: "We will act in any way and are not willing to tolerate a nuclear-armed Iran. We prefer that this be done by means of sanctions, but in the end, Israel should be able to defend itself." The assassination campaign was reportedly terminated in 2013 following diplomatic pressure from the United States, which was attempting to negotiate restrictions on Iran's nuclear activities.

Incidents

Incidents are listed here, including one in which the victim survived, and one where assassination has not been confirmed.

Ardeshir Hosseinpour

On 15 January 2007, Ardeshir Hosseinpour, a professor at Shiraz University, was initially reported to have died of "suffocated by fumes from a faulty gas fire in sleep". Later reports indicated foul play. American private intelligence company Stratfor released a report on 2 February 2007 in which the claim was made, based on "sources very close to Israeli intelligence," that the victim was "in fact a long-time Mossad target."

In 2014, Ardeshir's sister, Mahboobeh Hosseinpour, interviewed from Turkey in a conversation arranged by "The New Iran" opposition group, claimed that her brother was murdered by Iran's Revolutionary Guards rather than by Israel, for refusing to participate in "Iran's nuclear enrichment program whose use was for atomic eaponspurposes." According to Stratfor, Hosseinpour died of radiation poisoning.

Masoud Ali-Mohammadi

On 12 January 2010, Masoud Ali-Mohammadi, a professor of physics at the University of Tehran, was killed by a remote-controlled bomb attached to a motorcycle parked near his car. The bomb exploded on the street outside his home in the Gheytariyeh neighbourhood of northern Tehran as he left for work. Two other people were wounded in the blast, which shattered windows in a nearby four-story building, damaged window frames and blew a garage door out of its frame. The BBC reported that neighbors assumed the jolt was caused by an earthquake. Iran blamed Israel and the U.S for the attack.

In January 2011, Iran announced that it had arrested 10 Iranian citizens who had worked with Mossad to carry out the assassination. State television broadcast a confession by Majid Jamali Fashi, who said he acted on the instructions of Mossad and had been trained in Tel Aviv: "I woke up at 4 and made a call, the plan had not changed. I parked the motorbike near the tree," Fashi said in his confession. Ali-Mohammadi's wife said, "I heard the explosion just when I closed the door." Later confirmed genuine by Western intelligence officials, Fashi was executed by Iran in May 2012.

According to Iranian media, Maziyar Ebrahimi was an alleged perpetrator code-named Amiryal () Maziyar Ebrahimi was later exonerated and explained eight years later how he was proved to be innocent in an interview. Ebrahimi told the BBC that Iran had tortured him into confessing he was a spy.

Majid Shahriari and Fereydoon Abbasi

On 29 November 2010, Majid Shahriari, a professor at Shahid Beheshti University was killed by a bomb launched from a motorbike. The assassins had attached a bomb, detonating it from a distance. Shariari's wife, Ghasemi, was a passenger in the car and was injured in the explosion.

"I attached the bomb to the right front door and moved away quickly," said Arash Kerhadkish, who was convicted of assassinating Shahriari. One member of the assassination team was knocked from his motorcycle by the force of the blast. "The motorcycle fell down and one of the riders was injured. We helped him," said Maryam Izadi, a convicted member of the team, under interrogation.

In an almost simultaneous bomb attack, Fereydoon Abbasi, a professor at Shahid Beheshti University, where Shahriari also taught, and his wife were injured. "I had a meeting with Dr. Shahriari at the early morning. ... The bomb was attached to my car at 7:42. We were around the university square and I heard the sound of something colliding with my car and looked back and saw a motorbike. I concluded that that thing colliding with the car was bomb. I stopped at once and told my wife to get out." According to his wife, Abbasi sustained facial and hand injuries. On 13 June 2025, Abbasi was killed in an airstrike by Israel.

Darioush Rezaeinejad

On 23 July 2011, Darioush Rezaeinejad was shot five times and killed by motorcycle-riding gunmen in front of his home while he was with his wife after they picked up their daughter from kindergarten. His wife was also wounded in the attack.

The attack was described by an Israeli intelligence interviewed by ''Der Spiegel'' as "the first public operation by new Mossad chief Tamir Pardo". Rezaeinejad's wife, Shohreh Pirani, was also wounded in the attack. "I got off quickly and followed the shooter. After running several meters, I realized that they were shooting at me. I fell down and heard the motorcycle go away," she later said.

Initial reports said the gunmen had killed 35-year-old "Darioush Rezaei," a physics professor whose area of expertise was neutron transport, and who was linked to Iran's nuclear program. The victim was subsequently identified as Rezaeinejad, a postgraduate electrical engineering student at Tehran's K.N.Toosi University of Technology, who was expected to defend his thesis and working at a "national security research facility."

After the assassination, the speaker of Iran's parliament Ali Larijani stated that the United States and Israel had killed Rezaeinejad. The U.S. government, through State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland, rejected the accusation.

Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan

On 11 January 2012, Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan was assassinated with a "magnetized explosive" attached to the side of his car on his way to work, on the second anniversary of Masoud Ali-Mohammadi's murder at 8:30 am in Shahid Golnabi Street, Seyed Khandan, eastern Tehran.

According to Western intelligence sources, Ahmadi Roshan was "a victim of Israel's Mossad." "In this location, we reached the car and attached the bomb to the car and the bomb exploded near the white fence," said Arash Kerhadkish, under interrogation, as reported by the Mehr News Agency.

Mohsen Fakhrizadeh

On 27 November 2020, the alleged head of Iran's nuclear weapons program, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, was assassinated. Mohammad Javad Zarif

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