As military tensions between Iran and Israel escalated, families fearing further attacks have left the capital of the northern town of Asurafie to observe the traditional seventh day commemoration ceremony for the boys. They sought a short moment of comfort away from violence. But Israel had other plans.
On June 24, Israel attacked again in the context of intense hostility in Israeli-Iran, including airstrikes, drone operations and missile exchanges. At this time, three precision guided ammunition was wiped out from the house where the ceremony was being held. Sixteen people have died, including Dr. Sedigi himself, members of his direct and extended family members, as well as several neighbors. Some of the victims were so badly injured that it was necessary to identify DNA tests.
This was not a battlefield strike. It was an intentional assassination, and extended not only to scientists but also to mourning civilians. Despite Israel’s military necessity or claims of preemptive defense, such justification collapses under the scrutiny of international humanitarian law.
The targeted homes were neither Tehran nor Astane Ashurafie’s home, but they had no military character. They were ordinary family homes far from military targets and battlefields. Even if Israel accepts the assumption that Dr. Sediji views him as a strategic threat for his profession, it makes the strike patently disproportionate and indiscriminate as a result of 15 additional civilians, including women and children. Under Article 8 of the International Criminal Court of Rome, this law undoubtedly constitutes a war crime.
Israel often invokes the doctrine of preemptive self-defense to justify such operations. However, international law prohibits preemptive strikes targeting civilians and imposes strict conditions of distinction, proportionality, necessity and prevention. The Israeli operation was clearly unsatisfactory. Even under customary international law, the right to predictive self-defense is bound by Caroline’s doctrine, which requires that the threat be “instantly, overwhelmed, unselected means, and no moment of deliberation.” Israel does not provide reliable evidence that Dr. Sedigi poses such an imminent and overwhelming threat.
Dr. Sediji is a nuclear physicist engaged in civilian nuclear research and worked under Iran’s declared commitment within the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) framework and under the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). His role as a scientist engaged in internationally monitored civil studies cannot be reasonably interpreted as meeting this standard. This strike therefore fails both treaty-based and customary standards governing the lawful use of force.
His murder was not an isolated case. The Israeli campaign targets Dr. Seyd Mohammad Reza Reza Sedighi Saber as well as several other Iranian nuclear scientists. On June 13, 2025, nine prominent scientists were killed, including Feredun Abbasi, former Iranian vice president and head of the atomic energy organization. Seyyed Amir Hossein Feghhi is a complete professor and aide of nuclear energy organizations. Akbar Motalebizadeh, nuclear engineer. Mohammad Medi Tehransh, president of Islamic Azad University. Saeed Borji, Materials Engineering Expert. Mansoor Asgali is a physics expert. Ahmadreza Zolfaghari Daryani, a well-known professor of nuclear engineering. Ali Bahuei Katirimi, a mechanic expert. Abdolhamid Minouchehr, Head of Nuclear Engineering at Shahid Beheshti University. Additionally, on June 20, 2025, another nuclear engineer, Isar Tabatabai-Qamsheh, was assassinated in Tehran. These targeted killings highlight the scope of Israel’s operations against the conflicting Iranian scientific community.
These strikes cannot be dismissed as isolated cases either. Rather, it represents part of a deliberate decade-long campaign aimed at Iran’s private scientific community and infrastructure.
International humanitarian law is completely binding during armed conflicts to accurately prevent atrocities like these. The rules are explicit. Civilian and civilian objects should not be intentionally targeted. The principle of distinction requires combatants to always clearly distinguish between military and civilian targets. This is an absolute and clear obligation.
Historically, even during peak Cold War tensions, the US and the Soviet Union refrained from targeting scientists. The knowledge itself was off limits. Researchers are nowhere to be safe if scientists accept that they are being killed for their expertise.
Despite these troubling implications, the global scientific community is largely silent. Major institutions such as UNESCO, the International Council of Science and the American Physics Association have not issued statements condemning these killings.
The failure of international scientific organizations to condemn the intentional assassination of their peers is to undermine the universal value of science itself. Everywhere scientists rely on boundaries that separate politics and knowledge, war and peace, violence and discovery. Without these boundaries, international scientific cooperation (the cornerstone of human progress) is at cruel risk.
International law exists accurately to prevent and punish such crimes. The United Nations must independently investigate the massacre of Astane Ashrafier. Global scientific institutions must urgently and publicly defend the inviolability of private scientists. Governments and legal agencies must ensure that civilians and scientists are never legitimate collateral goals.
The missile that killed Dr. Sedigi and his family did more than end his life. They attacked the principle that knowledge should be protected. It attacked the principle that civilians remained safe even during the war and that international law still curtailed the use of violence.
Whether these ideals are still held depends fundamentally on how we respond today.