Iranian regime threatened Israel after incident at Natanz plant delaying nuclear plan

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohamad Yavad Zarif has targeted Israel for the power cut at the Natanz uranium enrichment plant and pledged his country would respond with nuclear development.

“The (Israeli) Zionists want revenge for our success in removing the cruel sanctions, but we will not allow it and we will take revenge on the Zionists for these measures», He underlined in front of the Parliament of Zarif, quoted by the State agency IRNA.

Israeli TV channels 11 and 13 have previously reported that, according to “Western intelligence sources”, the blackout was due to an Israeli cyberattack led by Mosad and caused significantly more damage than reported by Iranian authorities.

Meanwhile, the New York Times He cited two intelligence officers and reported that the blackout was caused by an explosion that completely destroyed the internal energy system that powers the centrifuges that enrich uranium. According to the sources, It would take around nine months for the Natanz plant to return to production.

If confirmed, this would be the second such attack in less than a year against Natanz, following a sabotage case in July 2020 that sparked a fire in a centrifuge assembly room advances and which several sources have also attributed to Israel.

“Iran’s response will be to take revenge on the Zionist regime at the right time and in the right placeIranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Said Jatibzadé said, adding that there is information that confirms Israel’s responsibility for what happened. was (an act of) nuclear terrorism against Iran in Iranian territory. Iran reserves the right to respond under Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations“He added.

Jatibzade said Israel had failed to weaken Iran’s nuclear capabilities because the affected centrifuges had to be replaced with more advanced centrifuges, according to Iran’s Tasnim News Agency.

The incident of the last hours in Natanz, described by the Iranian atomic agency of “nuclear terrorism”, coincides with the negotiations in Vienna to save the nuclear agreement of 2015 between Iran and six great powers and to lift the American sanctions against Tehran.

These talks, in which the United States is participating for the first time since its withdrawal from the pact in 2018, although indirectly, will continue next week in an attempt to convince Washington and Tehran to return to the agreement.

Israel is a firm opponent of this pact and, as Defense Minister Beny Gantz said yesterday, his country will continue to “work with the United States to ensure that any new deal with Iran does not escalate. nuclear power in the region and protects the State of Israel. . “.

“The political and military authorities of the Zionist regime have made it clear that they will not allow progress in the removal of nuclear sanctions and now imagine that they will achieve their goal,” Zarif said today.

However, the Iranian foreign minister claimed that this would not happen and that “Zionists will get their answer with more nuclear developments“Like the recent launch of new advanced centrifuges.

Regarding what happened in Natanz, the Minister insisted on the need to offer “adequate protection to nuclear installations and nuclear scientists in this delicate situation”.

This is how Zarif alluded to the operation that ambushed prominent Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fajrizadeh last November, of which Tehran also accused Tel Aviv.

The power outage, which caused no injuries or pollution, occurred in an area of ​​the Natanz electricity distribution network, a plant of around 100,000 square meters located in the center of the country and built eight meters underground to prevent attacks.

El complejo nuclear Shahid Ahmadi Roshan de Natanz es uno de los sitios supervados por el Organismo Internacional de la Energía Atómica (OIEA) en virtud del acuerdo nuclear de 2015, que solo permite usar a Irán centrifugadoras de primera generación IR-1, un límite incumplido since a long time.

Germany’s concern

Germany warned on Monday that the latest developments around the Natanz uranium plant did not bode well for nuclear negotiations aimed at reviving a flawed deal to curb Tehran’s atomic ambition.

“What we are currently hearing from Tehran is not a positive contribution, especially the development of Natanz,” German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said ahead of the talks in Vienna on Tuesday.

Maas said the negotiations in Vienna “will not be easy, but so far there has been a constructive spirit” displayed by the participants.

(With information from EFE, AFP and Europa Press)

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