The nuclear scientists were killed using a special weapon whose details were barred from publication, Channel 12 says.
The 10th nuclear scientist was killed shortly after the other nine, as part of the overnight Thursday-Friday Israeli operation, which included strikes on Iran’s ballistic missile program and the Natanz nuclear site, along with the elimination of top members of the Islamic Republic’s military leadership, the network says.
The nuclear scientists were all killed while they were sleeping in their beds, with Israel deciding to carry out the assassinations simultaneously so that there wouldn’t be time to tip off those being targeted.
The scientists apparently believed they were safe from such targeting in their homes, a senior Israeli official tells Channel 12, noting that previously assassinated nuclear scientists were killed while heading to their cars after work.
Israel had been tracking Iranian nuclear scientists for years and the ten killed last week were marked for assassination in November of last year, Channel 12 says.
Just when I feel like dystopian news can’t really disturb me anymore…
Leaving this totally unrelated article about Palantir and Israel here for absolutely no reason at all…
How Israel Uses AI in Gaza—And What It Might Mean for the Future of Warfare:
A program known as “The Gospel” generates suggestions for buildings and structures militants may be operating in. “Lavender” is programmed to identify suspected members of Hamas and other armed groups for assassination, from commanders all the way down to foot soldiers. “Where’s Daddy?” reportedly follows their movements by tracking their phones in order to target them—often to their homes, where their presence is regarded as confirmation of their identity. The air strike that follows might kill everyone in the target’s family, if not everyone in the apartment building.
Abraham, whose report relies on conversations with six Israeli intelligence officers with first-hand experience in Gaza operations after Oct. 7, quoted targeting officers as saying they found themselves deferring to the Lavender program, despite knowing that it produces incorrect targeting suggestions in roughly 10% of cases.
o no! israel thwarted iran’s nuclear ambitions! the horror!!!
I’m sure you still think it was a great thing we got to iraq before they set off those wmd’s
It’s civilian scientists working on nuclear energy we are talking about.
You’re part of the problem.
Is it though? What level of enrichment do they need for a nuclear energy program, and what level of enrichment were they at? I think it’s naive to say they weren’t working on a weapon.
I’m not saying it justifies killing civilian scientists, but we ought to be honest about the why.
Where is the evidence that they are working on a weapon? There are people getting murdered because people have become brainwashed enough to just assume Iran is working on a nukes.
I’m just saying, killing civilians on the basis of assumption is a pretty terrorist move and feels very similar to how Iraq was bombed to hell by America. But hey, that’s just my 2 cents.
According to the IAEA, the Natanz site was producing uranium enriched to 60% u-235.
For electricity, you need 3-5% u-235.
That’s not an energy program, that’s a weapons program.
And it’s on the IAEA to declare that they are indeed working on a weapons program, not speculation and assumption like yours.
Okay. Don’t use your reason if you’d prefer not to. It does make me wonder though:
Do you think the killing of the civilian scientists was wrong because they were civilian scientists, or because they were ostensibly working on an energy program?
Because as I said, I’m not claiming the murders were justified, just that we ought to be honest about the why.
There are plenty making the argument that Iran needs a nuclear weapons program to prevent exactly these types of attacks. That is intellectually honest. I’m not sure where I fall on that argument, I’d rather no one have nuclear weapons (but obviously that’s not going to happen).
The difference between 5% and 60% enrichment is pretty huge. And the research and effort required to get there is neither cheap nor easy. If what they’re after is nuclear energy, there is absolutely no reason to continue risking the ire of the international community and the repeated attacks by Israel. They’ve had energy-level uranium for a very long time already.