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Iran has blamed Israel for sabotaging its key nuclear facility, Natanz, which damaged centrifuges used in uranium enrichment, and vowed to retaliate.
Iran has blamed Israel for sabotaging its key nuclear facility, Natanz, which damaged centrifuges used in uranium enrichment, and vowed to retaliate.
According to the reports, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh made the first formal accusation against Israel over the incident at the nuclear facility on Sunday.
A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry acknowledged that Iran’s first-generation uranium enrichment workhorse IR-1 centrifuges had been damaged in the attack, but did not elaborate.
On the other hand, a former head of the Revolutionary Guards said that the attack had set the site on fire and also demanded better security in Natanz.
In a separate statement, Iranian Foreign Minister Jawad Zarif warned that Natanz would be rebuilt with more modern machines.
He also explicitly blamed Israel for the incident.
Zarif said that the Zionists want to take revenge on Iran’s progress after lifting sanctions. “But we do not allow (it) and we will take revenge for this action against the Zionists,” he added.
According to a report by the British news agency Reuters, Iran’s semi-official news website said that the person who caused the power outage in the production hall of the underground uranium enrichment plant has been identified.
On the other hand, several Israeli media outlets quoted unnamed intelligence sources as saying that Mossad’s spy service had carried out a successful sabotage operation in the Natanz complex underground to possibly return to the enrichment work that had been going on for months.
“Our nuclear experts are assessing the damage, but I can assure you that Iran will replace the deteriorating centrifuges with modern centrifuges,” the spokesman said.
The 2015 nuclear deal allowed Iran to enrich uranium in a plant with only 5,060 IR-1 machines, but Iran began enriching Natanz with advanced centrifuges, including IR-2M.
The incident comes at a time when Iran and the United States are making diplomatic efforts to restore the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, which Israel opposes.
Despite strong opposition from Israel, US President Joe Biden’s government wants to rejoin the agreement on Iran’s full compliance with the ban on nuclear fuel, which former President Donald Trump withdrew from the United States.
It is to be noted that more details about the incident that took place at the nuclear facility on Sunday morning could not be revealed, which was initially declared a blackout due to the grid supplying electricity to the place.
Several Israeli media outlets reported that a cyberattack had darkened Natanz and damaged a highly sensitive facility.
Earlier, Iranian officials called the incident “nuclear terrorism” and said Tehran had the right to take action against the attackers.
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