The Washington Post published an extensive report shedding light on a joint investigative inquiry it conducted with the Frontline program on PBS, revealing new details about the Israeli operation known as “Narnia”, an assassination campaign that targeted Iranian nuclear scientists. The investigation concludes that the Israeli American attack constituted an attempt to neutralise what Tel Aviv considers an Iranian nuclear threat by striking the human and scientific infrastructure of the programme. However, this did not succeed in eliminating it, instead resulting in dangerous escalation and opening the door to an arms race and future regional challenges.
The newspaper stated in its report, translated by Arabi21, that preparations for war were nearing completion, with dozens of trained agents working for Israel already inside Iran and equipped with advanced weapons. At the same time, Israeli Air Force pilots were on standby awaiting orders to strike Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, ballistic missile launch platforms, and air defence systems.
It added that Israel and the United States, its primary backer, reached an approximate consensus after lengthy discussions regarding how close Tehran was to acquiring a nuclear weapon, while simultaneously managing diplomatic deceptions aimed at misleading Iran and blinding it to the imminent attack.
The newspaper noted that Israeli security officials realised that inflicting lasting damage on Iran’s expansive nuclear programme required more than striking facilities alone. It also necessitated eliminating the “mastermind” of the programme, referring to a generation of Iranian engineers and physicists whom US and Israeli intelligence agencies believe were working to convert fissile nuclear materials into an atomic bomb.
The report added that at approximately 3:21 am on 13 June, in the opening minutes of the 12 day war between Israel and Iran, Israeli weapons began targeting residential buildings and homes in the capital Tehran. This marked the launch of Operation Narnia, which focused on assassinating leading Iranian nuclear scientists.
The newspaper explained that Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi, a theoretical physicist and explosives expert, was killed in one of the strikes. Fereydoun Abbasi, a nuclear physicist and former head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran who was under US and international sanctions, was also killed in another strike in Tehran two hours later. According to Israeli statements, a total of 11 prominent Iranian nuclear scientists were assassinated on 13 June and in the days that followed.
The Washington Post reported that the wide ranging and multi axis Israeli and American attacks on Iran’s nuclear programme shook the Middle East, triggered Iranian threats of retaliation, and for the time being derailed prospects for reaching a diplomatic agreement that would restrict Tehran’s nuclear activities and place them under stringent international oversight.
In cooperation with the Frontline programme, the newspaper revealed additional details regarding the nature of the attacks, the planning that preceded them, and their impact inside Iran. This was based on interviews with current and former officials from Israel, Iran, Arab states, and the United States. Some spoke for the first time on condition of anonymity while explaining covert operations and intelligence assessments.
The newspaper quoted officials from Israel, the United States, and the International Atomic Energy Agency as saying that Iran’s nuclear programme may have been delayed for years, but that this does not rise to the level of US President Donald Trump’s claim that the programme was “completely destroyed and reduced to rubble”.
By contrast, Iran, which insists its nuclear programme is dedicated to peaceful purposes and energy production, continues to display defiance. Amir Tehranchi told Frontline that his brother Mohammad’s work would continue, adding: “By killing these professors, they may be gone, but their knowledge has not been lost from our country”.
The newspaper noted that Israel has previously assassinated Iranian scientists, often with plausible deniability, through operations that included attaching magnetic bombs to scientists’ cars on the streets of Tehran. Fereydoun Abbasi narrowly survived a similar assassination attempt in 2010, while the prominent nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was killed in an ambush in 2020 using a remotely controlled machine gun outside the Iranian capital.
However, the report confirms that in June, Israel stepped out of the shadows of covert action, emboldened by its overt strikes against Iran’s allies in Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria.
In the context of Operation Narnia, Israeli intelligence analysts compiled a list of 100 of Iran’s most prominent nuclear scientists, later narrowing it down to approximately 12 targets. Detailed files were prepared on each individual’s activities, movements, and residences, based on decades of intelligence work.
The report confirmed that the operation was not free of errors. The Washington Post and the open source investigations platform Bellingcat independently verified the deaths of 71 civilians in five strikes targeting nuclear scientists. This verification relied on satellite imagery, video geolocation, death and cemetery records, and Iranian media coverage of funerals.
The newspaper explained that 10 civilians, including a two month old infant, were killed in the strike on the professors’ complex in Tehran’s Saadat Abad neighbourhood. Witness testimonies, videos, and images showed that the force of the explosion was roughly equivalent to a 500 pound bomb.
The newspaper quoted Israeli security officials as asserting that they did everything possible to limit civilian casualties, noting that reducing collateral damage was one of the primary considerations in planning Operation Narnia, according to a senior officer in Israeli military intelligence.
For his part, Brigadier General Elad Edri, head of the Israeli Home Front Command, said that Iranian retaliatory strikes targeted schools, hospitals, and other civilian sites, resulting in the deaths of 31 Israelis. Conversely, a spokesperson for the Iranian government stated in July that 1,062 people were killed in Israeli strikes, including 276 civilians.
The newspaper explained that Israel named its broad military campaign against Iran “Rising Lion”. Israeli warplanes and drones, supported by agents inside Iran, destroyed more than half of Iran’s ballistic missile launch platforms and neutralised the remaining air defence systems. The strikes also eliminated Iranian military leadership and commanders within the Revolutionary Guard. Air raids targeted power stations and ventilation systems relied upon by Iran to operate centrifuges at the Natanz and Fordow facilities, the country’s main uranium enrichment sites.
The newspaper quoted a senior Israeli security official directly involved in planning the operation as saying that Israel’s intelligence service, the Mossad, deployed more than 100 Iranian agents inside Iran, some of whom were provided with a “special weapon” composed of three parts to carry out precise strikes against military targets.
The newspaper noted that for decades, Israel had contemplated launching a large scale attack on Iran’s nuclear programme and other targets. However, obstacles diminished following Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to destroy Israel’s enemies after the Hamas attack on 7 October 2023, which resulted in the killing of approximately 1,200 people and the imposition of a siege on the Gaza Strip, leading to the martyrdom of more than 70,000 Palestinians. Hezbollah also suffered a major blow in Lebanon, including air strikes and a special operation carried out by the Mossad that resulted in the martyrdom of its leader Hassan Nasrallah in September 2024.
The newspaper added that the collapse of Syrian President Bashar al Assad’s regime in December 2024 enabled Israel to exploit the existing vacuum to destroy Syrian military capabilities and seize strategic areas in southwestern Syria.
The newspaper stated that beginning in 2023, the US Central Intelligence Agency started gathering information indicating that researchers in a unit affiliated with Iran’s Ministry of Defence were studying ways to accelerate the construction of a nuclear weapon, should the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei decide to revoke his 2003 fatwa prohibiting nuclear weapons. After Trump withdrew from the nuclear agreement in 2018, Iran began producing larger quantities of enriched uranium. However, neither US intelligence nor the Mossad believed that Iran had begun building a nuclear bomb. By spring 2025, Israeli analysts were uncertain whether Khamenei would announce the revocation of the fatwa or whether weapon assembly could be detected in time.
The newspaper said that on 12 June, on the eve of Operation Rising Lion, the International Atomic Energy Agency announced that Tehran had violated its non proliferation obligations, marking the first such censure in 20 years.
When Netanyahu visited Trump at the start of his second term, he presented four scenarios for attacking Iran: an Israeli only strike, an Israeli led attack with limited American support, full cooperation between the two allies, and a US led operation. Months of intense and covert strategic planning followed. Trump wanted to give nuclear diplomacy a chance, but he continued intelligence sharing and operational planning with Israel.
In mid April, Trump gave Iran 60 days to reach a nuclear agreement. The deadline expired on 12 June, prompting Trump and Netanyahu to ensure that the Iranians remained unprepared for the imminent strike. Trump said that the Israeli strike “could certainly happen”, while expressing a preference for a negotiated solution.
The newspaper said Israeli officials leaked information indicating that Netanyahu adviser Ron Dermer and Mossad chief David Barnea would meet with US special envoy Steve Witkoff, as another round of US Iranian negotiations was underway.
The newspaper confirmed that Israel had already decided to carry out the strike and that the United States was aware. The planned diplomacy was merely a ruse, with media reports of US Israeli اختلاف being encouraged to allow planning to continue without drawing attention.
The newspaper said that even after the bombing and assassination campaign began, the Trump administration sent a secret proposal to Iran to resolve the deadlock over its nuclear programme. This initiative was the last opportunity before approving the use of American force alongside Israel. The deal’s terms included ending Tehran’s support for allied groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas, replacing the Fordow facility and any other sites with facilities that do not permit enrichment, in exchange for the United States lifting “all sanctions imposed on Iran”. After the proposal was sent, Tehran rejected it, and Trump authorised American strikes.
In conclusion, the newspaper said that Iran has intensified construction at a mysterious underground site south of Natanz known as “Pickaxe Mountain”, and is seeking to rebuild its missile arsenal with assistance from China. In an interview with Frontline, Ali Larijani, Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said that Iran’s nuclear programme cannot be destroyed, stating: “Once technology is discovered, it becomes impossible to erase it”.
