Iran pledges revenge after Israel ‘targets nuclear site’
IRAN has accused Israel of sabotaging a nuclear facility.
A cyber attack was behind a mystery blackout at Iran’s underground Natanz site on Sunday, Israeli media has reported – but the country has not claimed responsibility. Iran’s foreign ministry has vowed retaliation for the power loss, which damaged IR-1 centrifuges, used in uranium enrichment.
‘The answer for Natanz is avenging Israel,’ spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said. ‘Israel will receive its answer through its own path.’ Tehran had already pledged to seek revenge for last year’s assassination of Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh Mahabadi, which it blames on Israel.
Iran’s foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif warned Natanz would be reconstructed with more advanced machines, which could imperil ongoing talks with world powers about saving Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal.
‘We will take revenge on this action,’ he added. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to stop the faltering international accord with Iran, which he deems a major threat.
Israeli broadcaster Kan said Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency was behind the blackout. And Yoel Guzansky, of Tel Aviv’s Institute for National Security Studies, said: ‘It’s hard for me to believe it’s a coincidence.’
In 2010, Natanz was targeted by the Stuxnet computer virus, believed to be a US-Israeli creation. A blast at an advanced centrifuge assembly plant last July was blamed on sabotage.