Israel says strikes killed 9 Iran nuclear scientists. IAEA assessment continues

Israel says strikes killed 9 Iran nuclear scientists. IAEA assessment continues
by AFP Staff Writers
Jerusalem (AFP) June 14, 2025

The Israeli military said on Saturday its air strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities the previous day resulted in the deaths of nine leading Iranian nuclear scientists.

"During the Israeli air force strikes at the onset of Operation Rising Lion, nine senior scientists and experts, who advanced the Iranian regime's nuclear weapons programme, were eliminated," the military said in a statement, listing the names of those killed.

"Their elimination represents a significant blow to the Iranian regime's ability to acquire weapons of mass destruction."

The military said the strikes were carried out on the basis of "precise intelligence gathered by the intelligence directorate".

How much damage has Israel inflicted on Iran's nuclear programme?
Vienna (AFP) June 14, 2025 - Israel's strikes on Iran have taken aim at its nuclear facilities, amid fears that the Islamic republic is seeking to develop nuclear weapons -- an accusation Tehran denies.

Experts told AFP that while the attacks might have caused some damage to Iran's nuclear programme, they are unlikely to have delivered a fatal blow.

- What is the extent of the damage? -

Israel's operation included strikes on Iran's underground uranium enrichment sites at Natanz and Fordow, and a uranium conversion facility at Isfahan, according to the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), citing information from Iranian officials.

IAEA said on Friday that a key, above-ground component of Iran's Natanz nuclear site had been destroyed, also citing Iranian officials.

There was "extensive" damage to the site's power supply, according to a report from the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), a US-based organisation specialising in nuclear proliferation, which analysed satellite images.

A loss of electricity to underground facilities can significantly damage the site's centrifuges, the machines used to enrich uranium, the ISIS institute said.

If backup power is lost, "at the least, the enrichment plant is rendered inoperable for the time being", it said.

Iran has said the damage to Fordow, south of Tehran, was minor.

But experts said it is impossible at this stage to determine the impact the strikes might have had on uranium stockpiles believed to be stored around the Isfahan site.

Ali Vaez, International Crisis Group's Iran project director, told AFP that if Iran managed to transfer significant quantities to "secret facilities," then "the game is lost for Israel".

- Can the programme be destroyed? -

While "Israel can damage Iran's nuclear programme... it is unlikely to be able to destroy it", Vaez said, arguing that Israel does not have the massively powerful bombs needed "to destroy the fortified, bunkered facilities in Natanz and Fordow".

Destroying those would require US military assistance, added Kelsey Davenport, an expert with the Arms Control Association.

She also stressed that Israel's unprecedented attack cannot erase the expertise Iran had built up on nuclear weapons, despite killing nine Iranian nuclear scientists.

- What are the risks to the Iranian population? -

The IAEA has not detected any increase in radiation levels at the affected sites.

"There is very little risk that attacks on Iran's uranium enrichment facilities would result in a harmful radiation release," said Davenport.

But an attack on Bushehr, Iran's only nuclear power plant, could "have a serious impact on health and the environment", she added.

After Israel launched its strikes, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said that nuclear facilities "must never be attacked" and that targeting Iranian sites could have "grave consequences for the people of Iran, the region, and beyond".

- Is Iran close to developing a nuclear bomb? -

After the United States unilaterally withdrew in 2018 from a landmark deal that sought to curb Tehran's nuclear activities, Iran has gradually retreated from some of its obligations, particularly on uranium enrichment.

As of mid-May, the country had an estimated 408.6 kilogrammes enriched to up to 60 percent -- just a short step from the 90 percent needed for a nuclear warhead.

Iran theoretically has enough near-weapons-grade material, if further refined, for about 10 nuclear bombs, according to the definition by the Vienna-based IAEA.

Iran is the only non nuclear-armed state producing uranium to this level of enrichment, according to the UN nuclear watchdog.

While the IAEA has been critical of Iran's lack of cooperation with the UN body, it says that there is "no credible indications of an ongoing, undeclared structured nuclear programme".

Tehran has consistently denied ambitions to develop nuclear warheads.

But Davenport warned the strikes could strengthen factions in Iran advocating for an atomic arsenal.

"Israel's strikes set Iran back technically, but politically the strikes are pushing Iran closer to nuclear weapons," she said.

Iran's nuclear programme: the key sites
Vienna (AFP) June 13, 2025 - Before Israeli strikes on Friday, Washington and Tehran had held several rounds of talks on Iran's nuclear programme, as concerns mounted about its rapid expansion.

Iran has significantly ramped up its nuclear programme in recent years, after a landmark deal with world powers curbing its nuclear activities in exchange for sanction relief began to unravel in 2018 when the United States unilaterally withdrew.

As of mid-May, Iran's total enriched uranium stockpile was estimated at 9,247.6 kilograms -- or more than 45 times the limit set out in the 2015 deal -- according to the latest report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Among its stockpiles, Iran has an estimated 408.6 kilograms enriched to up to 60 percent -- just a short step from the 90 percent needed for a nuclear warhead.

The country now theoretically has enough near-weapons-grade material, if further refined, for about 10 nuclear bombs, according to the definition by the Vienna-based IAEA.

But Iran has always denied any ambition to develop nuclear weapons.

Below is a list of Iran's key nuclear sites, which are subject to regular inspections by the UN nuclear watchdog:

- Uranium enrichment plants -

Natanz

About 250 kilometres (150 miles) south of Tehran, Natanz is Iran's heavily bunkered main uranium enrichment site, whose existence was first revealed in 2002.

Natanz operates nearly 70 cascades of centrifuges at its two enrichment plants, one of which is underground. A cascade is a series of centrifuges -- machines used in the process of enriching uranium.

In April 2021, the site was damaged in an attack that Iran said was an act of sabotage by Israel.

On Friday, Israel's operation struck at the "heart of Iran's nuclear enrichment programme", targeting the atomic facility in Natanz and nuclear scientists, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

IAEA head Rafael Grossi confirmed the Natanz site was "among targets".

Fordo

Secretly built in violation of United Nations resolutions under a mountain near the holy central city of Qom, Fordo was first publicly revealed in 2009.

Initially described as an "emergency" facility built underground to protect it from potential air attacks, Iran later indicated it was an enrichment plant capable of housing about 3,000 centrifuges.

In 2023, uranium particles enriched up to 83.7 percent were discovered at the Fordo plant, which Iran claimed were the product of "unintended fluctuations" during the enrichment process.

- Uranium conversion and research reactors -

Isfahan

At the uranium conversion facility at Isfahan in central Iran, raw mined uranium is processed into uranium tetrafluoride (UF4) and then into uranium hexafluoride (UF6), a feed gas for centrifuges.

The plant was industrially tested in 2004 upon its completion.

The Isfahan centre also harbours a nuclear fuel fabrication facility, which was inaugurated in 2009 and produces low-enriched fuel for use in power plants.

In July 2022, Iran announced plans to construct a new research reactor there.

Arak

Work on the Arak heavy-water research reactor on the outskirts of the village of Khondab began in the 2000s, but was halted under the terms of the 2015 deal.

Iran has meanwhile informed the IAEA about its plans to commission the reactor by 2026.

The research reactor was officially intended to produce plutonium for medical research and the site includes a production plant for heavy water.

Tehran

The Tehran nuclear research centre houses a reactor that was supplied by the United States in 1967 for the production of medical radioisotopes.

- Nuclear power plant -

Bushehr

Iran's only nuclear power plant in the southern port city of Bushehr was built by Russia and began operating at a lower capacity in 2011 before being plugged into the national power grid in 2012.

Russia continues to deliver nuclear fuel for the plant, which remains under IAEA control.

A German company began construction on the plant with a 1,000-megawatt nominal capacity until the project was halted in the wake of the 1979 Islamic revolution. Moscow later completed it.

Darkhovin and Sirik

Iran began construction in late 2022 on a 300-megawatt power plant in Darkhovin, in the country's southwest. In early 2024, it also began work in Sirik, in the Strait of Hormuz, on a new complex of four individual plants with a combined capacity of 5,000 megawatts.