Iran accuses Israel of killing three more nuclear scientists, total toll to nine now 

Iran says Israel killed 3 more nuclear scientists, raising the total number of Iranian scientists slain in recent days to nine.

The state television reported Saturday that Israel has killed three more Iranian nuclear scientists. “Three of the country’s nuclear scientists – Ali Bekaei Karimi, Mansour Asgari, and Saeed Borji – were martyred during the Zionist regime’s terrorist attacks,” the broadcaster said. Iranian media had said earlier that six others were killed in the Israeli attack.

According to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the latest casualties include Ali Bakhouei Karimi, an expert in mechanics; Mansour Asgari, a physicist; and Saeed Barji, a materials engineer. Their deaths were confirmed by Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency.

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Earlier, Israel had said its strikes had killed six people linked to the nuclear programme, in addition to three senior military figures.

Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Lammy on Saturday said he was “alarmed” by events overnight in the Israel-Iran conflict.

“Alarmed by further strikes in the Middle East overnight, with reports of fatalities and injuries in Israel. We must urgently de-escalate & prevent any further harm to civilians,” Lammy said on X, formerly Twitter, adding that he had spoken to his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi “to urge calm”.

Israel warned of more attacks on Iran on Saturday after Iran’s deadly retaliatory strikes on Israel overnight and into the morning. Three people were killed and dozens were wounded in Israel, after a series of blistering Israeli attacks on Iran’s nuclear program and its armed forces the previous day.

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Israel’s assault on Friday used warplanes, as well as drones smuggled into the country in advance, to assault key facilities and kill top generals and scientists. Iran’s U.N. ambassador said 78 people were killed and more than 320 wounded in the attacks.

Israel said the barrage was necessary before Iran got any closer to building an atomic weapon, although experts and the U.S. government have assessed that Tehran was not actively working on such a weapon before the strikes. It also threw talks between the United States and Iran over an atomic accord into disarray days before the two sides were set to meet Sunday.

With inputs from agencies