TEHRAN – President Masoud Pezeshkian paid tribute to Iran’s assassinated nuclear scientists Tuesday, calling their “only crime” the pursuit of national scientific sovereignty.

Speaking at Shahid Beheshti University, he stated: “These loved ones had no sin except that they knew, and had the will, to equip their country with advanced technologies.”

He condemned Western powers’ “hypocritical claims of democracy and human rights,” noting scientists such as Amir-Hossein Feghhi, Mohammad-Mehdi Tehranchi, Ahmad-Reza Zolfaghari, Abdolhamid Minouchehr, and Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani “took no action but serving Iran’s people and shielding the nation from aggression.”

Standing before the memorial for the scientists, Pezeshkian declared: “These martyrs prove that knowledge, not threats, guides Iran’s future.”

The five were among 19 Iranian scientists martyred during the Israeli regime’s campaign of aggression against Iran, which began with coordinated strikes on June 13 targeting nuclear facilities and residential areas. The regime’s attacks resulted in the martyrdom of more than 1,065 Iranians throughout the war.

Collectively, the five martyred scientists authored 555 peaceful, high-impact research papers in radiation safety, nanotech, and environmental science.

Iran maintains that its nuclear program is peaceful, citing the fatwa issued by the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, explicitly prohibiting the development and use of nuclear weapons.