Iran vows revenge for Natanz attack
Explosion sets back enrichment facility by nine months – NYT
Iran vowed on Monday to avenge the attack against the Natanz nuclear facility, the latest in a long-running covert war.
According to new details of the operation, explosives were used on Sunday to completely destroy the internal power system at the uranium enrichment facility, two intelligence officials told The New York Times on Sunday night.
The explosion caused severe damage to the site and it could take at least nine months to restore production at Natanz, according to the officials.
The strike was prepared long before the ongoing Vienna nuclear talks between Iran and the world powers, The Jerusalem Post also learned.
Although it is possible that the exact timing of the attack – which is being widely attributed to Israel either as a physical or cyberattack – was given a final green light after the negotiations began, it had been in the works long before that.
When the operation was planned, it was still unclear exactly when and if the US and Iran would return to serious negotiations regarding a return to the 2015 nuclear deal, though it has been known for a long time that this was the professed intention of US President Joe Biden.
Former Mossad chief Danny Yatom expressed concern about the leak of Israeli involvement, warning that it could undermine future Israeli operations.
“If indeed this thing is the result of an operation involving Israel, this leak is very serious,” Yatom said in an interview with Army Radio. “It is detrimental to the Israeli interest and the fight against Iranian attempts to acquire nuclear weapons. There are actions that must remain in the dark.”
The attack was initially reported by Atomic Energy Organization of Iran spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi as an “accident” in the nuclear facility’s electricity distribution network, but the country’s nuclear chief, Ali Akbar Salehi, later confirmed that an attack had taken place.
While Kamalvandi stated at the time that there were no injuries and there was no pollution in the incident, the spokesman himself later injured his ankle and head while visiting the site, according to Iranian media.
Iran’s semi-official Nournews website said the person who caused an electricity outage in one of the production halls at the underground uranium enrichment
Mossad’s Cohen: We’ll get you,
the cemeteries without COVID-19 limitations. Ceremonies, including at Mount Herzl and in Yad Labanim remembrance center, can only be attended by individuals with a vaccination certificate or certificate of recovery from the novel coronavirus.
“In the name of IDF soldiers and commanders, I salute those who died and the bereaved families,” Kohavi wrote in a letter sent to IDF personnel on Monday. “I pledge that we will do everything in our power to return those who are missing and taken captive. We will keep remembering, learning and teaching – and will keep fulfilling our purpose – to defend, to prepare and to win.”
The last soldier to be killed during an operation was St.Sgt. Amit Ben Yigal of the elite Golani Reconnaissance Battalion, who was killed last May in an operation to apprehend terrorist suspects in the Palestinian village of Yabad in the northern West Bank. He was struck by a rock hurled from a building after the roundup had been completed.
After being treated by combat medics at the scene, Ben Yigal was evacuated by helicopter to Rambam Medical Center in Haifa, where he succumbed to his wounds.
Meanwhile, the proportion of Jews in the country fell below the 74% threshold for the first time this past year, the Central Bureau of Statistics reported Monday. It published the data ahead of the 73rd Independence Day.
Around the time of the establishment of the state in 1948, the Jewish percentage of the population was 82.1%. Today it is 73.9%. On Israel’s 70th Independence Day, it was 74.5%, meaning it has declined more than half a percent in three years.
On the eve of this Independence Day, the population of Israel is about 9.327 million, the statistics bureau reported. There are about 6.984 million Jews (73.9%) and about 1.966 million Arabs (21.1%), including Muslims (and Circassians), Christians (including Armenians) and Druze.
About 467,000 people are defined as others, including non-Arab Christians, members of other religions and those registered as having no religious classification in the population registry.
Since last Independence Day, Israel’s population has grown by some 137,000 people, an increase of about 1.5%. During this period, about 167,000 babies were born, 16,300 immigrants arrived and 50,000 people died.
Since the establishment of the state, about 3.3 million people have immigrated to Israel, with some 1.5 million of them arriving since 1990 with
the beginning of the great wave of immigration from the former Soviet Union. During this period, about 129,000 citizens born abroad also immigrated to Israel.
In addition, the population is expected to reach about 11.1 million in 2030 and 13.2 million in 2040, the statistics bureau predicted. Its forecast said the 100th Independence Day of the State of Israel (in 2048) will be celebrated by about 15.2 million citizens.
At the end of 2019, about 46% of the total Jewish population in the world lived in Israel, and about 78% of the Jews in Israel were Sabras (native born), the report said. The population is relatively young, with about 28.1% being children up to the age of 14 and about 12% aged 65 and over, it said.
REVENGE
plant had been identified. “Necessary measures are being taken to arrest this person,” the website reported, without giving details about the person.
The incident occurred amid diplomatic efforts by Tehran and Washington to revive Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with major powers, an accord Israel fiercely opposed, after former US President Donald Trump abandoned it three years ago.
On Monday, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif explicitly blamed Israel. “The Zionists want to take revenge because of our progress in the way to lift sanctions... We will not fall into their trap...We will not allow this act of sabotage to affect the nuclear talks,” Zarif was quoted by state TV as saying.
“But we will take our revenge against the Zionists,” he said.
Saeed Khatibzadeh, a spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, stated on Monday that the affected centrifuges were only old, first-generation ones that would be replaced with advanced equipment, according to Iranian media.
“All the centrifuges that were shut down were of the IR-1 type, which will be replaced with advanced machines, and Iran will not fall into their cunning trap,” he said.
“Of course, with this action, Israel tried to take revenge on the Iranian people for their patience and wise behavior,” Khatibzadeh said. “Iran’s behavior will be revenge against Israel, which will be done in its own time.”
“The regime has been carrying out some actions and some news leaks in the last few months. Its goals are clear and not hidden from the elites and intellectuals of Iran,” he added.
“The foreign ministry has a responsibility to negotiate and Iran will respond to Israel through its channels. I am glad that there was no human or environmental damage, but
it could have been a human catastrophe, so it is a crime against humanity – which is not far from the arrogant nature of Israel.”
Khatibzadeh added that “the foreign minister and our delegation are following up on this issue and actions will be announced today or tomorrow. Some actions will be taken in their undisclosed way [and] may never be said.” to the •