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Iran Blames Israel for Attack on Nuclear Site and Vows Revenge
Posted
April 12, 2021
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0:51Now PlayingIran blamed Israel for an attack at its largest uranium enrichment plant, raising geopolitical tensions around Iran’s nuclear program even as diplomats try to revive the international accord that contained it.
“Various sources have confirmed Israel was behind the attack” on the power network at the Natanz facility in central Iran, Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said at a news conference on Monday. Some of Iran’s standard IR-1 centrifuges were damaged, but it is too soon to assess how badly, he said, without giving further details of the assault.
“Iran will take revenge upon Israel for the Natanz incident,” Khatibzadeh said. In a letter to the United Nations, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif called for international condemnation of the attack and for culprits to be held to account, adding that Iran would respond by increasing developments in its nuclear activity.
Power was cut off to the site, but that didn’t disrupt enrichment operations and the plant is still running on emergency electricity backup, Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Iran’s atomic energy agency, said, according to state-run IRIB news. The main power supply will be restored in coming days, he said.
A senior Iranian lawmaker and prominent nuclear scientist said he had been briefed on the incident and it entailed an explosion at an electricity station at Natanz, about 40 to 50 meters (131 to 164 feet) underground.
“From a technical standpoint, the enemy’s plan was rather beautiful,” Fereydoon Abbasi Davani, a former head of Iran’s atomic energy organization and now head of parliament’s energy commission, told state TV, adding that it may have taken five to 10 years to engineer the attack.
One person responsible for the blackout has been identified and is being sought for arrest, semi-official Nour News reported, citing an official in the Ministry of Intelligence it didn’t identify.
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