“Nuclear Terrorism”: Iran Confirms “Sabotage” After Natanz Atomic Site Blackout, Vows Retaliation

We detailed earlier on Sunday that what appears to have been a cyberattack has disabled the power grid of the Natanz uranium enrichment facility. Naturally all eyes are on Israel as a likely culprit, which Israeli media itself has been at the forefront of speculating and asserting.

Providing some confirmation that it wasn’t just “an accident” as was initially suggested, Iran’s top atomic official has followed by blaming an act of “nuclear terrorism” in statements later in the day.

Chief of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Ali Akbar Salehi, further called it sabotage akin to the June 2020 attack on Natanz which resulted in a devastating fire which temporarily crippled the site which is key to Iran’s uranium enrichment process. In fact it was only on Saturday that Iran unveiled that it had new advanced centrifuges at the site.

“Condemning this despicable move, the Islamic Republic of Iran emphasizes the need for the international community and the International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA] to deal with this nuclear terrorism,” state media quoted Salehi as saying.

He further vowed retaliation: “Iran reserves the right to take action against the perpetrators,” he said.

It follows on the heels of The Jerusalem Post report Sunday which asserted bluntly “…it seems that the so-called accident was caused by a cyber attack, possibly by Israel.”

“Natanz has in the past been targeted by Israeli cyber operations, according to foreign reports. In 2010, the Stuxnet virus attacked the facility in a joint operation with the United States, destroying over 1,000 centrifuges,” the JPost report added.

One of two things could happen as a result of Israel’s terror attack on Natanz. 1) The Iranians could walk out of Vienna, 2) Biden could cave to all Iran’s demands to prove he wasn’t behind the sabotage.

Screw the JCPOA. But hoping it is #2 just to see Netanyahu shit his pants.

— Sharmine Narwani (@snarwani) April 11, 2021

No injuries or nuclear breaches or leaks have been reported as part of Sunday’s incident, which was likely aimed at derailing current JCPOA talks in Vienna.