Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif accuses Israel of being behind a power outage at the Natanz facility, which was reported on Sunday.
- The Zionists want revenge because we have been successful in the work of lifting the sanctions.
They have said outright that they will not allow this.
But we will take revenge on the Zionists, Zarif said on state television.
Parsi: Israel sinks Iran
It is a strategically important facility for Iran because uranium is enriched there.
Rouzbeh Parsi, head of the Middle East program at the Foreign Policy Institute, says that it is most likely an advanced sabotage carried out by Israel.
- Everything indicates that it is a sabotage.
The Iranian enrichment capacity has been slowed down, he says.
- The discussion is now about why they (Israel) have confirmed it so close to the event.
Otherwise you usually avoid it.
No denial
Israel neither denies nor confirms the information.
Anonymous sources in the Israeli intelligence service have confirmed the information to the Israeli media.
"I will never allow Iran to have the nuclear capability to carry out its goal of genocide to eliminate Israel," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday.
"Israel will continue to defend itself against Iran's aggression and terrorism," he told Reuters.
Rouzbeh Parsi, Head of the Middle East Program at the Foreign Policy Institute.
Photo: Fredrik Sandberg / TT
Explosive material
Natanz is one of Iran's two major facilities for producing cleaner uranium.
As recently as last Saturday, new centrifuges started in the plant.
- From what I have seen from the reports, it is a matter of switching off the internal and independent electricity supply in this facility, says Rouzbeh Parsi.
It is most likely not a cyber attack.
- It is not a question of just manipulating something via the internet.
Here we are talking about explosions where the explosive material inside the plant has been stored.
Iran claims a catastrophe could occur?
- As soon as you are dealing with radioactive material, it is the precautionary principle that applies.
It shows how lousy the security around this facility is.
Photos distributed by the Iranian government that are said to represent the Natanz plant and uranium centrifuges, as well as President Hassan Rouhani when he talks about Iran's nuclear energy program.
Photo: AP 10 April 2021
Nine months delay
According to information on Monday, the internal power supply is completely switched off.
- According to the preliminary assessments I have seen, uranium enrichment there will be delayed for about nine months.
Iran has begun enriching uranium with a purity of up to 20 percent.
It is useful in the research reactor in Tehran as a fuel and in the steel treatment of cancer patients, Parsi states.
It is not used for weapons, says Parsi.
- For weapons, you have to get up to 90 percent.
Then we talk about a completely different level.
They have started to enrich a little to 20 percent.