By Humaira Ahad
In a quiet neighbourhood of northeastern Tehran, the aftermath of Israel’s terrorist aggression on June 13, 2025, still lingers in the air, and the scars are still fresh.
On that day, in a brazen act of aggression, the regime warplanes bombed a residential block, killing dozens of civilians. Among the martyrs were two of Iran’s young and brightest minds.
Dr. Majid TajenJari, a globally recognised expert in artificial intelligence, and Dr. Mohammad Reza Zakarian, a gifted AI pioneer, were the targets of the bombing, which also killed many women and children who were trapped under the rubble for days.
The two young men represented a new generation of Iranian scientists committed to advancing their country through knowledge and innovation.
Despite lucrative opportunities abroad, they chose to remain in Iran, investing their talents at home. They were killed in their own homes, alongside their families.
A life of purpose
A day after the bombing leveled one side of the apartment building, Zakarian’s father was searching through the rubble for any signs of his grandchildren.
Fatemeh, who would most of the time cling to her grandfather, was five, and Zahra was just seven months old. Stunned and distraught, he wandered among the ruins of the destroyed building, whispering to himself:
“Are you so vile that my child was a thorn in your eye? Shame on you. What did you want with his wife and children? What wrong had their neighbours done?”
Born into a family deeply rooted in values of integrity and patriotism, Zakarian showed early signs of brilliance. He distinguished himself through academic excellence and strong moral integrity.
The young Iranian scientist earned his bachelor's degree from Isfahan University of Technology and later a master’s degree from Malek Ashtar University, both institutions renowned for nurturing elite talent in science and technology.
His father, Mohammad Hossein Zakarian, described him as someone who consciously turned down multiple offers from foreign countries, including tempting scholarships and jobs. The young Iranian scientist had made his choice to stay in Iran and serve his country.
“The martyrs among the scientific elite, like my son, fulfilled their duty by remaining in Iran to promote the country’s progress and dedicate themselves to scientific work," he said.
"Despite receiving scholarship offers from numerous foreign countries, my son chose to stay and apply all his academic abilities to serve the advancement of his homeland."
His martyrdom was not, as his father explains, an accident of war, but an assassination – targeted, deliberate and brutal.
“I am honoured to have raised and presented to the country and nizaam (Islamic Republic) a son whose scientific expertise contributed significantly to the nation’s advancement,” the father of the martyred scholar expressed his pride.
“This regime showed no mercy, even to children, having martyred my two granddaughters, five-year-old Fatima and seven-month-old Zahra. Such a regime, responsible for these heinous acts, is destined to dig its own grave.”
The funeral for the family was held in Zakarian’s hometown of Amirkola, Babol, in northern Mazandaran province, where large crowds gathered, showing a broader sense of loss.
Many of the mourners had never met Zakarian, but saw in him a symbol of resistance of a nation that refuses to surrender its intellect, dignity, or future.
The man who promoted the AI renaissance
Dr. Majid TajenJari, 35, came from the serene village of Tajen Jar in Amol, also in the northern province of Mazandaran. He was a polymath and technological visionary.
His main focus was invention and education. As the head of the Artificial Intelligence Commission at the Youth Chamber of Commerce of Iran, he stood at the vanguard of Iran’s AI revolution.
TajenJari’s academic path was formidable. After completing his master’s thesis on fingerprint recognition using neural networks, he pursued a doctoral dissertation on developing a bilingual humanoid robot, one that could speak both Persian and English.
His studies combined software engineering with deep cultural sensitivity, aimed at advancing Iran in the field of humanised AI.
His career was marked by a series of significant scientific accomplishments. He earned gold medals in the 2012 and 2015 world invention competitions, a registered global patent in Russia (2009) and multiple awards from Switzerland, Croatia, Germany, Serbia, and Moscow.
But beyond the accolades, it was TajenJari’s commitment to education that defined him.
“His vision was clear,” said Dr. Mohammad Hadi Zahedi, Director General of the Statistics and IT Centre at the Ministry of Science.
“He believed that progress begins at the age of seven. That’s why he co-founded a groundbreaking educational centre to train children and teenagers in AI and Python programming.”
In just a few years, the centre sparked a wave of creativity across Iran’s youth.
“He didn’t believe in ivory tower science,” Zahedi added. “For him, research wasn’t enough unless it was implemented, unless it became a solution to a societal problem.”
The young Iranian scientist translated his research into noticeable results and implemented it within Iran’s industries and society.
TajenJari’s inventions in image processing for facial recognition, cargo container scanning, and steel quality analysis were being tested for industrial use.
“The martyr brought his knowledge into the field of practical application. One of his key priorities, alongside education, was to ensure this training was practical, not just theoretical. It was a kind of training where individuals were able to produce tangible results, products or services that could solve real challenges in society,” Zahedi said while explaining the scientific achievements of TajenJari.
Martyrdom deepens resolve
What linked the two men was not only their scientific expertise but also their role in a broader national project of technological independence. For years, the Zionist regime’s strategy has included efforts to hinder scientific and defence progress in different countries.
In Iran, that has meant targeting the infrastructure of self-reliance embodied by scientists like Zakarian and TajenJari. Targeted assassinations of Iranian scientists have been a recurring feature of Israel’s covert strategy to undermine the country’s technological progress. It is a part of a broader campaign that includes terrorist acts like sabotage, cyberterrorism, and airstrikes.
The two Iranian scientists represented a scientifically advanced and independent Iran, driven by homegrown expertise and national determination.
For their families, the loss is deeply personal, but so is the conviction behind their work.
“They think by killing our scientists, they can halt our progress,” said Zakarian’s father. “But others will rise. The path doesn’t end here.”
His words echo the broader current within Iranian society, where such terrorist attacks are met with a renewed sense of purpose. In intellectual circles and within families who have long carried the weight of sacrifice, there is a growing resolve to ensure that the expertise is passed on and expanded for the scientific sovereignty of the country.
Meanwhile, in Babol, Fatemeh and baby Zahra were laid to rest beside their parents, two children whose lives were cut short by a brutal Israeli strike on a civilian residential building.
The aggression, part of a long-standing strategy to eliminate the Islamic Republic’s scientific and technological advancement, has once again laid bare the Israeli regime’s deepening moral bankruptcy in targeting scholars, civilians, and children alike.
Iran has made clear that the country’s scientific trajectory will not be halted by cowardly assassinations but will only deepen the national resolve to make further advancements.
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