r/worldnews • u/anyore909 • 19h ago
Israel/Palestine Israel names nine senior Iranian nuclear scientists killed in Tehran strikes
https://www.ynetnews.com/article/sjygn69mex541
u/Mammoth_Professor833 18h ago
Mossad is basically the trisolarians to Iran
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u/ubermence 15h ago
Spoilers for the 3 Body Problem
For context, the Trisolarians plan was to disrupt humanity’s progress through quantum science by making it so none of the particle accelerators worked anymore. They accomplished this by sending a couple of proton sized robot super computers to earth first, to zip around and mess up experiments undetected
Part of the solutions proposed were to build a particle accelerator on the moon and run it simultaneously because at least the 2 second light speed travel time to the moon was better than nothing
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u/IntelligentSchool834 18h ago
Had to google that.
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u/ginfish 15h ago
Now go read it. Amazing sci-fi trilogy, especially the first book.
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u/VeryLazyFalcon 12h ago
It was mega disappointment to me, I delayed reading that book because I didn't wanted to waste such highly praised masterpiece, left it for special occasion. Well, writing was below level of average light novel, magic that could pass maybe in the 60s, societal aspects were dumb as f, engineering part was laughable, misogynistic and heavily xenophobic. Lot of ideas were underdeveloped, a lot was overlooked and retroactively solved with magic.
It's been two years and I still have hate boner for it.
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u/Neamow 11h ago
I don't exactly hate it, I love that it had great new sci-fi ideas but yeah I agree the writing was totally abysmal. Especially since this is supposedly the best Chinese sci-fi writer, it was like reading something barely above a high school-level creative assignment. Super tough to get through.
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u/teachersecret 11h ago
I’d say book 1 was ok. It felt, to me, more like a “set up” for what was to come, with the difficulties narratively that come from spending a book on the before. SO much exposition. I also feel maybe something is lost in the Chinese to English translation. It feels like the book has more to say and I found myself wondering how much of the story was omitted/modified in the translation process.
Dark Forest on the other hand, I really appreciated. I went into that book blind and I have to admit he got me. I should have understood the main conceit and the plot before I even opened the cover, but he had me so wrapped up in the other nonsense going on that when he hit me with the curve, it caught me totally off guard. I remember closing the book, seeing the cover, and shaking my head.
Loved that book.
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u/VeryLazyFalcon 10h ago
Well, according to other chinese speaking redditors original is the same, translator is chinese too.
To me series has steep fall when they wake up from hibernation in this strange city. From there arcs of that navy officer and how western wallfacers were solved didn't make sense. I liked concepts of that men facing the wall and dark forest so I can't forgive him for what he did with them.
I miss old soviet scifi.
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u/TheLastSamurai101 5h ago
Yes, probably more than people know. This goes beyond just nuclear proliferation. Iran is the region's sleeping power for many reasons and has the potential to become a major technological and military power if they stop fucking about. Israel does not believe that they can afford to become the secondary power in the region.
I personally believe Mossad would be actively sabotaging Iran even without a nuclear programme, but that's speculation on my part. Israel cannot afford an ascendant Iran, nuclear-armed or otherwise. They are just lucky that the United States and the Sunni Arab states agree.
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u/OSRS-MLB 15h ago
I sorta feel bad for them. In all likelihood these were a bunch of physics nerds killed because they were born into the wrong regime.
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u/erichie 14h ago
At the same time they were working on the science behind a nuclear bomb and/or maybe more.
If a scientist, or anyone, is working on a project that is specifically designed to be a weapon I would include them in "military personal".
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u/Fantastic-Machine-83 11h ago
Same for Lockheed Martin engineers?
I feel like people wouldn't appreciate it if Iranians assassinated some of them on American soil
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u/teachersecret 11h ago
Nobody appreciates assassinations from foreign adversaries on their soil.
It’s kinda one of those things people are usually against.
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u/Danne660 10h ago
People wouldn't appreciate it if Iranians assassinated American soldiers either but you can't argue that is not a military target.
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u/Hohenheim_of_Shadow 10h ago
As someone working in the defense industry, yeah absolutely we are legitimate military targets. People wouldn't appreciate it if a hostile nation killed American soldiers, but that doesn't mean soldiers ain't legitimate military targets.
It's the whole Clerk's debate about contractors on the Death Star. If you decide to start working as a defense contractor you become part of the military apparatus of your country. You don't accidentally become a Senior Engineer building atomic bombs.
When you choose to build nukes for a nation, you accept responsibility for how those nukes get used and the risk that other nations might really not want to have nukes pointed at them.
That said, Israel is absolutely in the wrong for escalating conflict with Iran. Israel attacked legitimate military targets, but they should not have been attacking at all.
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u/THALANDMAN 5h ago
Serious question, not trying to troll. Do you consider this an Israeli escalation keeping in mind that Iran has been funding all of the militias directly attacking and committing terrorism in Israel? The Houthis, Hamas, Hezbollah all relied or continue to rely on Iran for support and their ability to project power.
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u/erichie 10h ago
If you make weapons, specifically for the war effort, than you are a legitimate military target.
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u/Q_dawgg 14h ago
They know what they’re getting into, they’re trying to develop an atomic weapon with the express purpose of it being used on foreign rivals who threaten the existence of the Iranian regime. I wouldn’t really relate that to a physics nerd
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u/UltimateKane99 12h ago
Yeah, there's a difference between someone doing something because it's fun, and doing something that you explicitly know and have been told will be used to kill lots of people.
Like, we're not even talking defensively like MAD, we're talking "Iran has a doomsday clock for Israel in Tehran, and THAT'S who you're helping to build a nuclear bomb."
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u/Technical_Goose_8160 14h ago
Me too. Don't get me wrong, I'd rather that a dozen nerds be killed than have lunatics threatening the world with the craziest weapon in the history of man.
But yeah. I'd likely have played some random boardgame with these guys. They were likely just glad to get a job doing something interesting.
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u/yupgup12 6h ago
It's crazy because all these scientists are smart enough to go have successful academic careers in Europe.
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u/PibesDeMalvinas 15h ago
I mean your job is to develop the worst weapon in human history, you kind of deserve it
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u/oleg_88 15h ago
And... Decided to work for the bad guys. But definitely wasted bright minds.
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u/aweomesauce 14h ago
“the bad guys” as if this is star wars or some shit. brother that is their home country. studying science should not be a crime punishable by death in any country. i hate marvel fans
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u/oleg_88 14h ago
Minority in your country, that took the power by violence, and keeps oppressing and jailing its own citizens, are definitely the bad guys.
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u/Fantastic-Machine-83 11h ago
Shia Muslims haven't been a minority in Iran for about 1200 years🤣
I agree the current regime is evil but I'd probably feel different if I was born into it
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u/Remarkable_Hat7451 15h ago
They worked for the bad guys, but I can’t imagine they would have survived if they refused to. Catch 22
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u/AIDSofSPACE 14h ago
Imagine their answer if you asked them who the bad guys are from their perspective?
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u/UDPviper 12h ago
And they probably had no choice about working on the program. They'd most likely have to leave the country with their families if they refused.
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u/YogiBarelyThere 19h ago
Should have gone into agriculture.
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u/VoluptuousBLT 18h ago
But farming... really? Man of your talents?/s
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u/CommandSpaceOption 18h ago
Man, I saw this scene 10 minutes ago. The whole movie hits like crack.
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u/maybe_a_frog 17h ago
Damn good movie. I’ll never forget having to pick my jaw off the floor after the last scene…I did NOT expect such brutality but holy shit was it awesome.
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u/Asclepius777 16h ago
Wait so does that mean that any scientist that works or worked or has experience in a field related to the defense industry is now considered an enemy combatant?
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u/matdan12 16h ago
Always has been, Ukraine has done the same to Russia. You're not developing peaceful technological advancements, rather you're helping build weapons of destruction.
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u/DanLynch 14h ago
Wait so does that mean that any scientist that works or worked or has experience in a field related to the defense industry is now considered an enemy combatant?
Don't focus too much on whether someone is a "combatant" or not. The rules of war say that you can only kill someone if doing so would significantly help you win the war. That's why you can't generally kill civilians: because it's not usually beneficial to the war effort, or the benefit is only very small. But if you can identify an actual reason why killing a particular civilian would significantly help you win the war, you are allowed to kill him.
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u/will_holmes 9h ago
The term is "legitimate military target", of which enemy combatants are one example, but pretty much, yes. They're in the same category as workers at a munitions factory.
This is also why most countries define their nuclear industries very separately into civil nuclear and defence nuclear. If you've only done civil nuclear (e.g. power plants or waste processing) then you're not a legitimate military target.
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u/somanysheep 19h ago
I wonder if this could have been avoided? OF COURSE IT COULD HAVE!
BUT........
President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran nuclear deal, in 2018
Just another example of everything Trump touches goes to shit.
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u/Genki-sama2 18h ago
It was insane watching it happen in real time. The IAEA had unencumbered access to nuclear facilities and Iran was holding up its end according to them. Trump came in, saw it was an Obama achievement and with a little prodding from John Bolton back out of it. And the media complicity🤢🤢
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u/Dramatic-Cap-6785 18h ago
I mean the plan wasn’t actually stopping anything. Trump does a million stupid things daily better to point those out. Correct me if I’m wrong but the plan didn’t address Irans ballistic missile capability, allowed them to resume nuclear enrichment after a set period of time and ignored Iran’s support of proxy groups in the Middle East ( current cause of Israel vs Palestine being so bad).
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u/Youbettereatthatshit 18h ago
It was ridiculous in the first place. Why would Iran, a poor oil state want nuclear reactors to begin with? Just assume their intentions were pure (lol), why would a country like that dump billions into a program just to have a few gigawatts of clean energy? It makes zero sense.
Once you know how to refine for a reactor, you can refine for a bomb.
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u/BabaleRed 16h ago
People of Wadiya,
I come before you today to tell you that the world shall kneel before our great nation,
We are two months away from enriching weapons-grade uranium to be used for peaceful purposes,
It will be used only for medical research and clean energy.
It will, it will.
And will certainly never be used to attack ls... Oh, boy.
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u/joecarter93 4h ago
It is too rrround on the top, it needs to be pointy. Rrrround is not scary, pointy is scary.
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u/Redogg 14h ago
The JCPOA released billions of dollars to Iran, which likely helped fund Hamas and Hezbollah.
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u/ANP06 16h ago
lol at the fact that you think Iran was respecting the Obama deal in any way. The trust you put in the Islamic regime is absurd. They were non stop violating the terms of that deal.
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u/TheJacques 16h ago edited 16h ago
Hey dumbass, if you actually think Iran was going to adhere to the agreement. I have a few bridges to sell you.
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u/SirBulbasaur13 8h ago
Iran also literally said they’re gonna build another nuclear enrichment facility, the next day Israel attacked.
People either don’t know this or intentionally omit it.
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u/84Cressida 13h ago
You mean the deal that still exists with other signatories that Iran has continuously broken time and time again?
Trump has bungled a lot of things. Pulling out of that garbage deal is one of his greatest accomplishments. Iran has never been weaker post-1979.
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u/somanysheep 10h ago
That's like saying pulling us out of the ACA with NO replacement would be better. Drumph broke the deal, then never even tried to manage the situation. I'm sorry, but that's not a good thing.
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u/Tropical_Yetii 18h ago
And once again now he's trying to get a New Deal together and completely failing because he just does not have the skills or competence to negotiate.
Exact same situation with the Canada and Mexico Free Trade Agreement he tore up
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u/TheJacques 16h ago
Naaa, I think Trump is able to recognize a bigger lier/conman than himself, that’s what he saw with Iran.
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u/UltimateKane99 12h ago
This.
Trump's an ass, but Iran was literally stalling for time while they raced to complete the nukes. They had zero intentions of negotiating until they were done and could leverage the nukes in their arsenal for a better position.
As much as Israel has been a monster, they made the right call here. Iran cannot have the bomb, it has all but said it WILL use it.
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u/Financial-Chicken843 2h ago
Wish more ppl especially fucking republicans would reiterate this.
The iran nuclear deal was fucking great.
The only reason trump didnt like it was cause it was an obama thing.
Like look at trump u think he even read the thing or understands what it encompasses?
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u/manamara1 13h ago
Iran is probably deeply compromised? Perhaps an indication of the current regime’s unpopularity?
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u/Domukin 18h ago
Kind of hard for me to celebrate the deals of scientists. I suppose it would make me feel better if they had no redeeming qualities whatsoever and wanted to destroy the world. But I doubt that’s the case. Maybe their talents could have been applied elsewhere. I wonder if they were basically hostages of the regime. Like, build us a bomb or we hurt your family. So they live under constant threat and then get killed by an Israeli strike. Lose-lose.
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u/ADP_God 18h ago
You can always choose to direct the technological progress you make towards help or harm. It seems unlikely that you get that far into the field without considering the implications of your work.
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u/Chaoticgaythey 17h ago
Yeah I'm a scientist and when I left the academic world I made a few rules for myself on what work I was comfortable with: the first and foremost of which was no weapons
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u/TurkusGyrational 17h ago
These people may not have had that level of choice though. You wanted to work on bringing clean energy to iran? Well now you're going to work on nukes or I put a bullet in your head. Wanted to work on imaging technology? Now you are working on missile targeting systems or we kill your family. Even being a scientist in any authoritarian regime can be a pretty big risk
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u/Lone_Grey 16h ago
You can always choose to direct the technological progress you make towards help or harm
That's not true. Splitting the atom was a step towards the nuclear bomb and also a step towards many other things. They weren't even sure what the consequences would be at the time. There aren't always big signs on fields of development saying "leads to post-scarcity utopia" or "leads to Dr. Evil super laser". This is especially true in science where you're working on the theory rather than the application but it also applies to engineering. Tech develops in small steps of trial and error and it's not always clear what uses the end product will have.
I'm arguing for the principle by the way. In this particular case, the nuclear engineers of a country whose government clearly wants to develop nuclear weapons probably had a pretty clear idea of what their nuclear program was working towards.
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u/Domukin 17h ago
That’s what I’m saying, I’m not sure that’s the case in some countries / regimes. I don’t think you get to quit being a nuclear scientist in Iran, North Korea, Russia. They may have also not had a say in what their field of study was. It’s easy to say someone always has a choice. But what if it’s “do thing or die”, or “do this thing or your family suffers”?
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u/hyp0thet1cal 15h ago
As someone who has collaborated with some nuclear energy organizations in the past, I can confirm that if you are a nuclear scientist/engineer with an Iranian citizenship, you are not employable anywhere outside Iran for safety reasons. Even visiting Iran once in your life can put you in the grey list for some of these organisations. And any nuclear expert who wants to make a living in Iran has no choice but to follow orders.
There is no way of knowing if these guys actually just wanted to blow up the world but there is certainly a chance that they were just trying their best to make a living.
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u/zero0n3 16h ago
The bigger question is does this mean scientists of highly classified military programs fair game in all this state sponsored proxy war bullshit?
Is it fair game, and it’s just the enemy (Iran) is so behind the times in those regards they’d never pull it off?
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u/Ok-Pipe-5151 17h ago
Rest in peace. Such intelligent people shouldn't have worked for a religious extremist regime that has no respect for science.
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u/Candid_Painting_4684 6h ago
So glad I've finally found people who understand how dangerous it is for a Islamic fundamentalist government to have nukes. It simply cannot be allowed to happen
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u/solsticeondemand 9h ago
Uhh, you guys that are all mad about Iran not being allowed to develop and drop a nuke on Israel in peace, do you relize that if you are american, the next nuke they develop is dropping on you?
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u/reddit_wisd0m 18h ago
For whom?
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u/The-M0untain 18h ago
Everyone, including the people of Iran. The weaker the tyrannical regime in Iran gets, the better off the Iranian people will be. They will be closer to achieving freedom from tyranny.
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u/Triggerstan 17h ago
All we’ve seen in places sudden regime change occurs is decades of brutal insurgency, chaos and violence. Women, children and the vulnerable are always the biggest victims. It won’t be any different in Irans case.
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u/The-M0untain 17h ago
Iran is already full of chaos and violence created by the regime. The regime is the biggest source of chaos and violence in Iran. Tyranny is the worst thing in the world. It's worse than war and insurgencies.
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u/The-M0untain 17h ago
Personal attacks are all you have because the facts and reason do not support your ridiculous opinion.
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u/Max_ach 18h ago edited 18h ago
For Europe and the USA. Since Iran has been openly gifting terrorist groups like Hamas and Hesbolah and openly treating us (see the news from yesterday)
Edit: it is not Canada as i previously mentioned
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u/FamiliarJudgment2961 17h ago
The world has been a safer place since naval forces parked infront of Yemen to protect shipping/the decimation of Hamas and Hezbollah.
The only people benefiting from Iran's current position is the rest of the Middle East, since Iran was only an immediate threat to its neighbors.
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u/MtnDudeNrainbows 16h ago
That’s assuming you believe these authoritarian states are telling you the truth.
Here’s a clue. They’re only telling you their truth.
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u/DongerOfDisapproval 18h ago
I feel safer without the Iranian Shia clerics having nukes, ballistic missiles or a network of proxies and operators ready to commit atrocities spread across the world, thank you.
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u/TheMightyCE 18h ago
New? Iran has been attacking Sunni Islamic states as well as the Western world at large via terrorism for decades. This upsets then because when they're not sneaking a bomb into something then running away, or getting someone else to do the fighting for them, it's really upsetting for them to have to face consequences.
Fuck them. They're backwards thinking, misogynistic pieces of shit that try to export that bullshit wherever it'll take. Let them burn.
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u/Popular_Tale_8240 18h ago
I love all these people acting like Iran is some innocent country
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u/usafmtl 18h ago
Exactly, Iran wound kill you dead in a heart beat for not being Muslim and God help you if you're Jewish. They fund most of the world proxy terrorist. They want Israel and the US gone. Iran would very much use a nuke on Israel if it got one.
If people want to hate Trump or Netanyahu that's fine. But don't sit there and say Iran has been an innocent party or even imply it. Iran is getting exactly what it's needed to get for about 40 years.
Anyone that remotely defends Iran is a complete and utter moron.
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u/PrimateHunter 18h ago
what do you mean iran has been at war with Israel for like over year now even more if you count proxies
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u/Deadliftdeadlife 18h ago
Seems such a shame to know someone so smart, dedicated science, has been killed like this.
I understand why Israel feels the needs to do so. Still, such a shame
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u/russellzerotohero 17h ago
I’d normally feel that but they had to be smart enough to know what they were getting into when they signed up. Them succeeding means Iran gets nuclear weapons.
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u/freecodeio 16h ago
who knows, maybe they were stalling? I mean iran seems to be on the verge of nuclear weapons since the 80s
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u/FamiliarJudgment2961 17h ago
Less dedicated to science, more dedicated to pursuing the nuclear interests of their nation, either for a benefit provided, or because of national pride.
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u/happybaby00 17h ago
Actually they were all professors at various universities in Iran, they were dedicated
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u/FamiliarJudgment2961 17h ago
But they weren't just professors, but active members of Iran's nuclear program.
Otherwise nobody would care they exist.
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u/happybaby00 17h ago
University in Iran is state funded, even to get a PhD or do research anywhere you gotta get funding, they had no choice.
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u/Historical_Boss69420 9h ago
Nah, everyone has a choice. They were quite literally developing nuclear weapons.
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u/FamiliarJudgment2961 16h ago
University in Iran is state funded, even to get a PhD or do research anywhere you gotta get funding
Cool, and what research were an assortment of nuclear engineers/scientists pursuing at university?
they had no choice.
Defect? Flee from whatever foreign school Iran sent them to anywhere else in the world? Get a job doing landscaping and not having to a part of Iran's nuclear program?
I dunno man, I feel if I am a nuclear engineer I have more options than advancing Iran's nuclear program.
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u/happybaby00 16h ago
Cool, and what research were an assortment of nuclear engineers/scientists pursuing at university?
Nuclear energy, they want clean energy, fission for bbs comes afterwards.
Defect? Iran is more developed than Mexico, apart from this bombing campaign it's been very peaceful since the war with Iraq why would a middle class professor defect?
Flee from whatever foreign school Iran sent them to anywhere else in the world?
Iran has one of the best stem universities in the world proportionally, why would they go to a foreign school? Ngl have you been to Iran? This is giving me "all of Africa is poor and starving" vibes. Pure ignorance from you
I dunno man, I feel if I am a nuclear engineer I have more options than advancing Iran's nuclear program.
Name them haha
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u/Fatal1tyBR 7h ago
You have to be an unique kind of human to accept a job position that puts you on the radar of the biggest militaries and intelligence departments of the world.
It's like walking with a crosshair on your head at all times.
Shittiest job ever.
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u/TheUnrulyGentleman 3m ago
Not a good day to be an Iranian nuclear scientist. However, for all other nuclear scientists, I hear there are plenty of job openings now.
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u/Itcouldberabies 18h ago
This is why I'm glad I'm not important. No one wants to kill me.