Tehran accuses Israel of attack on nuclear facility

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran accused Israel on Tuesday of mounting a sabotage attack on a nuclear facility near Tehran last month, the country’s staterun news agency reported as authorities acknowledged for the first time that the mysterious assault had caused structural damage to the site.

Authorities announced in late June that they had prevented saboteurs from attacking a site located in Karaj, a city about 25 miles northwest of the Iranian capital. They gave no details about what the targeted building belonging to the Iran’s Atomic Energy Agency contained, or how it was targeted.

The sudden admission last month came just days after the election victory of the country’s hardline judiciary chief, Ebrahim Raisi, and followed a series of other attacks on Iran’s nuclear program, including the killing of a top nuclear scientist.

At the time, officials stressed that the attack had caused no casualties or damage. But Cabinet spokesman Ali Rabiei revised that account Tuesday, confessing to damage inflicted on the building’s ceiling.

“A hole appeared on ceiling of one of the industrial sheds, so the roof was removed for repairs,” Rabiei said, seeking to explain satellite images of the site widely circulated online that appeared to show the roof ’s abrupt removal following the reported attack.

“Damage to equipment was not remarkable,“he added, without elaborating.

The allegedly foiled attack last month came amid a flurry of diplomatic activity, as diplomats in Vienna struggle to resurrect Tehran’s nowtattered 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, which put curbs on its enrichment activities in return for relief from U.S. sanctions. Former President Donald Trump withdrew America from the landmark accord three years ago.

That prompted Iran to gradually abandon the deal’s limits on uranium enrichment, setting off a series of tense incidents in the Mideast. To exert pressure on the West for sanctions relief, Iran is now enriching uranium to 60%, its highest ever levels, although still short of weapons grade 90%.

There was no immediate comment on the accusation from Israel, which has not claimed responsibility for any of the alleged attacks on Iran’s nuclear program in recent months.