An Iranian official revealed today, Sunday, that a malfunction has occurred in the electricity distribution network at the "Natanz" nuclear site, most likely resulting from "an act of sabotage and infiltration," while several Israeli media outlets reported that the incident was the result of an Israeli cyber attack.

The Iranian Fars News Agency website quoted Malik Shariati, a spokesman for the Energy Committee in the Iranian Parliament, as saying on Twitter, "It is highly suspected that this incident - which coincided with the National Day for Nuclear Technology and with Iran's efforts to force Westerners to cancel sanctions - was an act of sabotage and a breakthrough."

Shariati added that they are following up the dimensions and details of the case and will announce the results of that after reaching a final outcome.

A spokesman for the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization, Behrouz Kamalondi, told Fars News Agency that the electricity distribution network at the "Natanz" site had an accident on Sunday.

Kamalondi added that the "Martyr Ahmadi Roshan" complex for uranium enrichment in "Natanz" had an accident, stressing that there were no human injuries or radioactive contamination as a result of the accident.

He stressed that investigations are underway to find out the causes leading to the accident, and it will be announced at a later time.

The Israeli "Jerusalem Post" newspaper had reported that there were reports suggesting that a cyber attack was what caused the technical defect and power outages in the "Natanz" nuclear facility (400 kilometers south of Tehran), which is located underground in Isfahan.

The newspaper said that Israel was most likely behind the attack, noting that the attack was more dangerous than the Iranian authorities announced, and that Israeli analysts estimated that it led to the closure of entire sections of the facility.

The Israeli newspaper "Haaretz" also suggested that the defect that afflicted the facility was caused by an Israeli electronic attack that led to the disruption of its activity.

The newspaper said that this incident comes a week after the attack on an Iranian ship in the Red Sea, which Israel was accused of carrying out, noting that the hidden battle between Israel and Iran is no longer secret, and that the escalation between the two sides has jumped to a new stage.

The official Israeli Kan channel also mentioned that the defect in the "Natanz" nuclear facility could have been caused by Israeli electronic activity.

The channel said - in a report - that Israel was able in the past - according to foreign reports - to damage the centrifuges in "Natanz" using cyber attacks, referring to a fire that broke out at the site in early July 2020, which Iran later held Israel responsible for.

For his part, Al-Jazeera correspondent in Tehran, Noureddine Al-Dagheer, stated that what happened may not be beyond two possibilities:

Either the defect in the electrical network is the result of a technical failure in the generator, or the result of an external factor represented by a cyber attack, indicating that Iran is in a cyber confrontation with Israel and the United States.

The "Natanz" facility - the largest of its kind in the country - is located 260 km from the city of Kashan in the Iranian province of Isfahan, and the facility has been subjected to a number of attacks and accidents in the past years.

The facility - which specializes in enriching uranium using centrifuges - includes about 50,000 advanced gas transport tubes, allowing the production of quantities of uranium.

In 2010, the "Natanz" facility and other Iranian nuclear facilities were subjected to "Stuxnet" cyber attacks, which caused disruption of computers in "Natanz".

In July 2020, the facility was exposed to a fire in the part that is above the ground, which was severely damaged.

Weeks later, the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran confirmed that the accident was the result of an act of sabotage.