>>507988849 (OP)The problem with Atomic Science is that most of it is state secrets. To protect your projects from spies, none of your research or plans are written down, they are only stored in the minds of your researchers, that way no one can steal your shit. The problem is when your academics and researches die, so does your research with them.
This has been a big problem for the USA arsenal as some hyper advanced weapons like or Minute Man ICBMs and Atom bomb knowledge were done this way, and as those researchers and specialists that designed the originals are literally dying from old and and don't exist anymore, we are struggling to make new ones because no one knows how they were made anymore.
So it's not a stretch to say Iran did the same, and decapitating top specialists is actually a serious blow to their programs.