Iran accuses Israel of being involved in Natanz bombings, threatens ‘appropriate response’

Eslam Mohamed

In an exceptional case, Iran’s Natanz nuclear reactor witnessed two successive attacks on April 11 and 12, and Iran accuses Israel of being behind the attack, pledging to “retaliate at the appropriate time and place.”

On Saturday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani opened a centrifuge assembly plant in Natanz, and at the same time issued an order to operate or test three new series of centrifuges. The new centrifuges provide the opportunity to enrich uranium faster and in larger quantities, in clear violation of the nuclear agreement.

On Sunday, the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) announced that the Natanz nuclear complex in central Iran had been subjected to a “terrorist attack” in the morning, which led to a “power outage” but did not result in “deaths, injuries, or pollution.” Then, the secretary of the Iranian regime’s Expediency Council, Mohsen Rezaee, announced another fire at the nuclear facility.

The official Fars news agency also reported that AEOI spokesman Behrooz Kamalvandi sustained injuries to his leg and head, while visiting the site.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh declared during a press conference in Tehran on Monday that it is “too early” to determine the “material damage caused by the attack,” adding, “Every centrifuge must be inspected to give the damage toll.”

Khatibzadeh indirectly accused Israel of undermining the ongoing talks in Vienna to try to return the United States to the international agreement concluded in 2015 on the Iranian nuclear program, and to lift the sanctions imposed by Washington on Tehran since its withdrawal from the agreement in 2018.

“If it aims to limit Iran’s nuclear capability, then I would say on the other hand that all the centrifuges are IR-1,” Khatibzadeh said, referring to Iran’s first-generation centrifuge.

He added, “Let everyone know that they will definitely be replaced by more advanced machines,” and that “Iran’s response will be revenge against the Zionist entity at the right time and place.”

Iran’s official IRNA news agency stated that deputies reported that Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif stressed the need not to allow the Vienna talks to fail. For its part, Germany warned Monday that recent developments related to the Natanz facility are “not positive” with regard to the Vienna talks aimed at reviving the nuclear agreement.

The United States, under former President Donald Trump, withdrew unilaterally from the nuclear agreement in 2018 and re-imposed US sanctions that had been lifted under the agreement.

In response, Iran has begun, since 2019, to backtrack on most of its commitments made in Vienna, which limit its nuclear activities. US President Joe Biden has confirmed his intention to return to the Vienna Agreement.

Iran has always denied that it is seeking to possess an atomic bomb, and President Rouhani reiterated Saturday that all of his country’s nuclear activities were purely peaceful.

In the beginning of July, the advanced centrifuge assembly plant in Natanz was severely damaged due to a mysterious explosion, and the authorities concluded that the source had been “terrorist sabotage”, although they have not yet published the results of their investigations.