LOC20:22
17:22 GMT
RAMALLAH, June 14 (KUNA) -- Israeli military sources said the surprise airstrikes on Iran in the early morning of yesterday killed 20 senior military commanders and nuclear scientists.
"The eleminated" military commanders include Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces and Maj-Gen. Mohammad Bagheri, Commander in Chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Maj-Gen. Hossein Salami and head of intelligence for the Iranian armed forces Gholam-Reza Marhabi, i24NEWS network reported on Saturday, citing military sources.
Nine scientists, involved in "Iran's nuclear weapons development program," were also killed in the Israeli military operation.
They include Amir Hassan Fakhahi - deputy head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization and physics expert, Fereydoun Abbasi - expert in nuclear engineering, Mohammad Mahdi Tehranshi - physics expert, and Akbar Motalebi Zadeh - expert in chemical engineering, according to i24 report.
They also include Saeed Barji - materials engineering expert, Abdel-Hamid Minoushehr - expert in reactor physics, Mansour Asgari - physics expert, Ahmad Reza Zolfaghari Daryani - expert in nuclear engineering, and Ali Bakhouei Katirimi - expert in mechanics, it added..
In a related development, the Israeli occupation's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reaffirmed resolve to pursue the air campaign on Tehran and across Iran to prevent Iran's access to nuclear weapons.
In a televised speech, he claimed that yesterday's attacks sent the Iranian nuclear program years backward. (pickup previous)
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