ASTANEH-YE ASHRAFIYEH, IRAN – June 25, 2025 – Prominent Iranian nuclear scientist Mohammad Reza Seddighi Saber was reportedly killed in a suspected Israeli airstrike in northern Iran, according to Iranian state television and The Guardian. The attack occurred near his parents’ residence in Astaneh-ye Ashrafiyeh, Gilan Province, and is believed to be part of a broader covert campaign to disrupt Iran's nuclear program.
Saber headed the Shahid Karimi Group within the Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research (SPND), which is closely linked to nuclear and explosives research. Iranian media also confirmed that his 17-year-old son was killed days earlier in a separate Israeli strike on their home in Tehran, which Saber had reportedly survived.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury had sanctioned Saber in May 2025 for providing material support to the development of weapons of mass destruction, including involvement in sympathetic detonation studies – a field related to nuclear weapons design.
This assassination aligns with a pattern of targeted killings of Iranian nuclear scientists, which Tehran has consistently attributed to Israeli intelligence operations, particularly Mossad. Since the start of the recent conflict, Israel has allegedly eliminated multiple key figures in Iran’s nuclear infrastructure.
The killing heightens tensions amid a fragile ceasefire brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump, who recently urged both nations to honor the truce. Israeli officials have not commented on the latest strike.
Iranian authorities condemned the attack as a violation of international law and vowed to respond to protect the nation's sovereignty and scientific integrity.