Brain behind Iran’s nuclear detonation technology killed in Israeli strike

Saeed Borji, a senior Iranian explosives expert and key figure in Iran’s nuclear-related defense programs, was killed in Israeli airstrikes, having long played a central role in developing detonation systems used in nuclear weapons design.

Borji, a mechanical engineering PhD graduate from Iran’s Malek Ashtar University, was considered a pivotal expert in the development of explosive detonators essential for nuclear weapons.

He headed the Center for Explosion and Impact Technology Research (known by its Persian acronym Metfaz), a subsidiary of the Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research (SPND).

The center is believed to have played a critical role in developing advanced technologies such as multi-point initiation (MPI) and exploding bridgewire (EBW) detonators—components identified by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as integral to implosion-type nuclear devices.

Borji’s involvement in Iran’s nuclear program dates back to the 1980s during the Iran–Iraq War, and he later became a central figure in the covert "Amad" project, a suspected nuclear weapons development effort that Iran says was ended in 2003.

Western intelligence and leaked documents, however, suggest Borji continued working on sensitive defense-related research under different organizational structures, including SPND.

He collaborated with foreign experts, including Vyacheslav Danilenko, a Ukrainian scientist formerly linked to the Soviet nuclear program. Together, they were involved in the design of explosive test chambers at Iran’s Parchin site, believed to be used to simulate nuclear detonations.

Additionally, Borji is said to have overseen experimental activities at facilities such as the Abadeh site in Fars Province, which the IAEA confirmed contained traces of undeclared uranium.

In 2019, then-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly identified the Abadeh site as part of Iran’s covert nuclear work.

The US Treasury Department later sanctioned Borji for his role in Iran’s nuclear weapons-related efforts, describing him as an explosives and metals expert linked to the Shahid Karimi Group, part of SPND.

In recent years, Borji was also involved in managing front companies, including Azar Afrooz Saeed and Arvin Kimia Abzar, which officially operated in the oil and petrochemical sectors. Intelligence reports obtained by Iran International suggest these firms acted as covers for ongoing military research, particularly in the development of nuclear detonators.

Leaked documents from Iran’s nuclear archive show Borji was also responsible for transferring explosive testing operations to protected sites such as Sanjarian, near Tehran, and for working within the classified Unit 6 of the Parchin military complex.

Analysts talking to Iran International described him as a crucial link between Iran's original Amad nuclear team and its current defense research network. Technology developed under his direction is believed to have helped Iran achieve operational capability in producing synchronized nuclear detonators domestically.