Iran says its nuke facility hit by act of ‘terrorism’

TEHRAN: Iran’s atomic energy organization said yesterday the Natanz nuclear facility was hit by a terrorist act, hours after it said an “accident” had

caused a power failure there. The episode came a day after the Islamic republic said it had started up advanced uranium enrichment centrifuges at the site, in a breach of its commitments under a troubled 2015 deal with world powers.

Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of the Iran Atomic Energy Organization (IAEO), condemned a “futile” act, while urging the international community to “confront this anti-nuclear terrorism”, in a statement carried by state television. The attack was carried out by “opponents of the country’s

industrial and political progress, who aim to prevent development of a thriving nuclear industry,” he said, without specifying what country or entity might be behind the alleged sabotage.

IAEO spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi had earlier reported an accident at the enrichment facility caused by a “power failure”. No-one was injured and there was no radioactive release, the official Fars news agency reported, citing the spokesman. Kamalvandi said there had been “an

accident in part of the electrical circuit of the enrichment facility” at the Natanz complex near Tehran.

“The causes of the accident are under investigation and more details will be released later,” he added, before the later statement put out by the agency’s chief. He did not say whether power was cut only in the enrichment facility or across other

installations at the site.

Malek Chariati, spokesman for the Iranian parliament’s energy commission, took to Twitter to allege sabotage. “This incident, coming (the day after) National Nuclear Technology Day, as Iran endeavors to press the West into lifting sanctions, is strongly suspected to be sabotage or infiltration,” Chariati said. Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani had on Saturday inaugurated a cascade of centrifuges for enriching uranium and two test cascades at Natanz, in a ceremony broadcast by state television.

An Israeli public broadcast journalist, Amichai Stein, said on Twitter “the assessment is that the fault” at Natanz is the “result of an Israeli cyber operation”, without elaborating or providing evidence to corroborate his claim. — AFP