Report: Israel Eliminated Nine Top Iranian Nuclear Scientists in Secret Operation “Narnia”

In its opening strike against Iran last week, Israel reportedly carried out a highly coordinated assassination of nine out of the Islamic Republic’s ten most senior nuclear scientists, Channel 12 reports. The covert mission was codenamed Operation Narnia.

According to the report, the scientists were killed using a classified weapon whose technical details have not been released for publication.

The tenth scientist was eliminated shortly afterward, as part of the same overnight Thursday-to-Friday operation, which also targeted Iran’s ballistic missile infrastructure, the Natanz nuclear facility, and high-ranking military officials.

All ten nuclear experts were reportedly killed in their sleep. Israeli planners decided on simultaneous strikes to prevent any chance of warning being passed between targets.

A senior Israeli official told Channel 12 that the scientists were lulled into a false sense of security, thinking they were safe in their homes. Previous assassinations had typically occurred while targets were commuting.

Israel had been monitoring these scientists for years and finalized the kill list in November of last year, according to the report.

Channel 12 quotes a senior Israeli intelligence source as saying the removal of the nuclear scientists was seen as the most critical part of Operation Narnia, since military personnel and infrastructure could be replaced more quickly than the strategic knowledge the scientists possessed.