AEOI chief: International community, IAEA must address ‘nuclear terrorism’ against Iran

The head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) has slammed the act of sabotage against the country’s nuclear site in Natanz earlier in the day, noting that the international community, as well as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), must deal with such “nuclear terrorism” that targets Iran’s facilities.

Ali Akbar Salehi’s remarks came hours after the AEOI spokesman said on Sunday that an incident took place at the electricity distribution network of Shahid Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan nuclear facility in Natanz, which is a uranium enrichment center located in the city of the same name in Iran’s central province of Isfahan.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran, while condemning this despicable act, underlines the need for the international community and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to address this nuclear terrorism and reserves the right to take action against masterminds, perpetrators and conspirators of this [terrorist] act,” Salehi said.

He added that the Islamic Republic will seriously pursue the development of its nuclear technology, on the one hand, and make efforts to remove the oppressive US sanctions, on the other hand, so that those who ordered the terrorist act would not reach their goals.

According to the AEOI chief, the action that took place at the Natanz enrichment facility shows the failure of those, who oppose the country’s industrial and political advances, in preventing Iran’s remarkable progress in its nuclear program and obstructing successful talks aimed at removing the oppressive sanctions.

Behrouz Kamalvandi, the spokesman for the AEOI, announced the incident earlier in the day, saying it did not cause any pollution or human fatalities.

Kamalvandi added that the cause of the incident is under investigation and that further information will be announced later.

Israel's public radio quoted unidentified intelligence sources on Sunday as saying that Israel's Mossad spy agency carried out a cyber attack against Iran's Natanz nuclear facility, Reuters reported.

Natanz facility is among the sites being monitored by the IAEA under a 2015 landmark nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), between Iran and a group of world powers.

On July 2, 2020, an explosion was reported in a shed under construction at the Natanz complex, but it caused no casualties and failed to stop enrichment work at the facility.

At the time, Kamalvandi described the incident as “an act of sabotage.”

Meanwhile, diplomats from Iran and the remaining parties to the JCPOA, namely Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany, as well as the United States, were in Vienna this week to discuss the details of efforts to restore the deal, three years after the US abandoned it and imposed illegal sanctions on Tehran.

The negotiations, which began early this month, have been described as “constructive” and “businesslike” by the sides, but they have not led to any concrete agreement on how and when all sides, especially the US, would return to honoring the deal.

Israel and some reactionary regional governments remain implacable opponents of Washington returning to the deal.

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