Iran nuclear drive ‘to be thwarted’
IRAN’S nuclear ambitions will continue to be thwarted because of opponents within the regime, a former nuclear inspector said last night, writes Marco Giannangeli.
It follows last Sunday’s attack – which Iran said was carried out by Israel – at the Natanz underground nuclear facility in which thousands of centrifuges were destroyed.
Yesterday Iran named its key suspect as Reza Karimi, saying he had “fled” the country just before the blast. Olli Heinonen, a former deputy director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, described the damage as “substantial”.
He said while Iran could resume production in three months, it was an example of sabotage using inside help.
“There are those who don’t want this capability and are willing to co-operate to delay it,” he said. “We can see the pattern repeated over the past 10 years, from the Stuxnet computer virus in 2010 to the murder of nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh last year.”
Last week the US, Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia met with Iranian counterparts invienna, in a bid to revive a failed nuclear deal aimed at curtailing Iran’s ability to possess nuclear weapons.
But Iran and the US remain in deadlock.