Revenge warning as Iran blames Israel for sabotage at Natanz nuclear site

IRAN’S foreign ministry has blamed Israel for the sabotage attack at its underground Natanz nuclear facility.

Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh warned Iran would take revenge over the incident.

The comments represent the first official accusation levelled against Israel over the incident on Sunday that cut power across the facility.

Israel has not claimed responsibility for the sabotage, though Israeli media almost uniformly said that it was the result of a cyber attack.

Few details have emerged about what happened early on Sunday morning at the facility.

The event was initially described as a blackout caused by the electrical grid feeding its aboveground workshops and underground enrichment halls.

If Israel was responsible, it would further heighten tensions between the two nations, already engaged in a shadow conflict across the wider Middle East.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who met US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin on Sunday, has vowed to do everything in his power to stop the faltering 2015 international nuclear deal with Iran.

The event was initially described as a blackout caused by the electrical grid feeding its aboveground workshops and underground enrichment halls.

“The answer for Natanz is avenging Israel,” Mr Khatibzadeh said.

“Israel will receive its answer through its own path.”

Mr Khatibzadeh acknowledged that IR-1 centrifuges, the firstgeneration workhorse of Iran’s uranium enrichment, had been damaged in the attack.

Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif separately warned Natanz would be reconstructed with more advanced machines – which could imperil ongoing talks in Vienna with world powers on saving Tehran’s tattered atomic accord.