Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Tensions escalate for Iran and Israel
Statement comes in the wake of blackout at a nuclear facility
Iran vowed revenge for a blackout at a nuclear enrichment site attributed to an Israeli attack.
JERUSALEM — The Iranian foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, vowed revenge against Israel on Monday morning, a day after a blackout at an Iranian nuclear enrichment site was attributed to an Israeli attack.
Zarif ’s comments highlight the risk of escalation in a yearslong shadow war between Iran and Israel. They also threaten to overshadow efforts in Vienna to encourage Iran to reimpose limits on its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of U.S. sanctions.
In a statement broadcast by Iranian state television, Zarif was quoted as saying: “The Zionists want to take revenge because of our progress in the way to lift sanctions.”
He added, “But we will take our revenge from the Zionists,” according to the broadcast.
Zarif’s reported comments followed a power failure Sunday at the Natanz uranium enrichment site that Iranian officials attributed to Israeli sabotage. The Israeli government declined to comment on its involvement, but American and Israeli officials confirmed separately that Israel had played a role. Israeli news outlets, citing intelligence sources, attributed the attack to the Mossad, the Israeli spy agency.
Two officials briefed on the matter said the blackout was caused by an explosion that targeted the power supply for thousands of underground centrifuges that form the main Iranian enrichment program.
A spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Behrouz Kamalvandi, said Monday that the blast had created a crater so big that he had fallen into it, injuring his head, back, leg and arm.
The attack risked igniting public tensions between Israel and the Biden administration over the right way to approach Iran and its nuclear ambitions. It occurred as the U.S. defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, was in Israel for meetings with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Benny Gantz.
Israeli and U.S. officials declined to say whether the U.S. government had been warned of the attack in advance, or whether the attack had been timed to coincide with Austin’s visit.
A White House spokesperson said Monday that “the U.S. was not involved in any manner and we have nothing to add to speculation about the causes.” The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, did not comment on whether the United States had been given advance notice of the attack.
Austin and Netanyahu projected an image of friendship Monday at a briefing. In brief statements, Austin did not mention Iran, while Netanyahu referred only obliquely to Sunday’s attack.
Iran has long maintained that its nuclear program is peaceful and aimed at energy development. But Israel sees it as an existential threat, since Iranian leaders have often called for Israel’s destruction.
“We both agree that Iran must never possess nuclear weapons,” Netanyahu said Monday. “My policy as prime minister of Israel is clear. I will never allow Iran to obtain the nuclear capability to carry out its genocidal goal of eliminating Israel, and Israel will continue to defend itself against Iran’s aggression, and terrorism.”
Netanyahu described the United States on Monday as “not just allies — we’re family.” But the Natanz attack was a reminder of the differences between Netanyahu’s Iran policy and President Joe Biden’s approach.
The episode could complicate efforts by the Biden administration to encourage Iran to return to something close to the 2015 agreement negotiated by the Obama administration, in which Tehran promised to limit its enrichment program.
The deal collapsed in 2018, when President Donald Trump reimposed sanctions on Iran, and Iran later abandoned commitments to curb its nuclear plans.
Israel opposes returning to the same deal, arguing that it did not impose strong enough or long enough restrictions on Iranian nuclear activity.
A senior official in the prime minister’s office declined to say what Austin and Netanyahu discussed in their private meeting. A second Israeli official said that Austin and Gantz discussed Israel’s opposition to returning to the same deal agreed in 2015, but declined to say whether the men discussed the Natanz attack.
Analysts were divided about whether Israel’s aggression was intended to scupper the negotiations. The German foreign minister, Heiko Maas, said the blackout did not augur well for the negotiations.
“What we are hearing currently out of Tehran is not a positive contribution, particularly the development in Natanz,” Maas said Monday.
The leaking of details about Israeli involvement in Sunday’s episode raised fears that Iran would seek to save face by mounting a stronger military response than usual.
“Once Israeli officials are quoted, it requires the Iranians to take revenge,” Danny Yatom, a former head of the Mossad, said in an interview Monday with a radio station run by the Israeli army. “There are actions that must remain in the dark.”