The individuals eliminated were central knowledge holders in Iran's nuclear program, with decades of combined experience across nuclear engineering, physics, chemistry, and materials science - Clcik o

Shamkhani represented Iran in high-level China-brokered peace talks with Saudi Arabia, leading to the two re-establishing diplomatic ties after a long-running cold war. Most recently, he took part in nuclear negotiations with the Trump administration.

Israel has claimed responsibility for killing nine top Iranian nuclear scientists in a series of targeted airstrikes on Tehran. The Israeli military says the operation dealt a major blow to Iran's nuclear weapons program.