'Suspicious' Blackout Strikes Iran's Natanz Nuclear Site
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran's underground Natanz nuclear facility lost power Sunday just hours after starting up new advanced centrifuges capable of enriching uranium faster, the latest incident to strike the site amid negotiations over the tattered atomic accord with world powers.
As Iranian officials investigated the outage, many Israeli
media outlets offered the similar assessment that a cyberattack darkened Natanz
and damaged a facility that is home to sensitive centrifuges. While the reports
offered no sourcing for the evaluation, Israeli media maintains a close
relationship with the country's military and intelligence agencies.
If Israel caused the blackout, it further heightens the
tensions between the two nations already engaged in a shadow conflict across
the wider Middle East.
It also complicates efforts by the U.S., Israel's main
security partner, to re-enter the atomic accord aimed at limiting Tehran's
program so it couldn't pursue a nuclear weapon if it chose. As news of the
blackout emerged, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin landed in Israel on
Sunday for talks with Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz.
Power at Natanz had been cut across the facility comprised
of above-ground workshops and underground enrichment halls, civilian nuclear
program spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi told Iranian state television.
"We still do not know the reason for this electricity
outage and have to look into it further," Kamalvandi said.
"Fortunately, there was no casualty or damage and there is no particular
contamination or problem."
Asked by the state TV correspondent if it was a
"technical defect or sabotage," Kamalvandi declined to comment.
Malek Shariati Niasar, a Tehran-based lawmaker who serves as
spokesman for the Iranian parliament's energy committee, wrote on Twitter that
the incident was "very suspicious," raising concerns about possible
"sabotage and infiltration." He said lawmakers were pursuing details
of the incident as well.
The Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, which
monitors Iran's program, said it was "aware of the media reports,"
but declined to comment.
Natanz was largely built underground to withstand enemy
airstrikes. It became a flashpoint for Western fears about Iran's nuclear
program in 2002, when satellite photos showed Iran building its underground
centrifuges facility at the site, some 200 kilometers (125 miles) south of the
capital, Tehran.
Natanz suffered a mysterious explosion at its advanced
centrifuge assembly plant in July that authorities later described as sabotage.
Iran now is rebuilding that facility deep inside a nearby mountain.
Israel, Iran's regional archenemy, has been suspected of
carrying out that attack as well as launching other assaults, as world powers
now negotiate with Tehran in Vienna over its nuclear deal.
Iran also blamed Israel for the killing of a scientist who
began the country's military nuclear program decades earlier. The Stuxnet
computer virus, discovered in 2010 and widely believed to be a joint
U.S.-Israeli creation, once disrupted and destroyed Iranian centrifuges at
Natanz.
"It's hard for me to believe it's a coincidence,"
said Yoel Guzansky, a senior fellow at Tel Aviv's Institute for National
Security Studies, of Sunday's blackout. "If it's not a coincidence, and
that's a big if, someone is trying to send a message that 'we can limit Iran's
advance and we have red lines.'"
Israel has not claimed any of the attacks, though Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeatedly has described Iran as the major threat
faced by his country in recent weeks.
Meeting with Austin on Sunday, Gantz said Israel viewed
America as an ally against all threats, including Iran.
"The Tehran of today poses a strategic threat to
international security, to the entire Middle East and to the state of
Israel," Gantz said. "And we will work closely with our American
allies to ensure that any new agreement with Iran will secure the vital
interests of the world, of the United States, prevent a dangerous arms race in
our region, and protect the state of Israel."
The Israeli army's chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi,
also appeared to reference Iran.
The Israeli military's "operations in the Middle East
are not hidden from the eyes of the enemy," Kochavi said. "They are
watching us, seeing (our) abilities and weighing their steps with caution."
Multiple Israeli media outlets reported Sunday that a
cyberattack caused the blackout in Natanz. Public broadcaster Kan said Israel
was likely behind the attack, citing Israel's alleged responsibility for the
Stuxnet attacks a decade ago. Channel 12 TV cited "experts" as
estimating the attack shut down entire sections of the facility. None of the
reports included sources or explanations on how the outlets came to that
assessment.
In Tehran, Iranian officials meanwhile awaited the arrival
of South Korean Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun, the first visit by a premier
from Seoul since before the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Iran on Friday released a
South Korean oil tanker held since January amid a dispute with Seoul over
billions of dollars of its assets frozen there.
On Saturday, Iran announced it had launched a chain of 164
IR-6 centrifuges at the plant. Officials also began testing the IR-9
centrifuge, which they say will enrich uranium 50 times faster than Iran's
first-generation centrifuges, the IR-1. The nuclear deal limited Iran to using
only IR-1s for enrichment.
Since then-President Donald Trump's withdrawal from the Iran
nuclear deal in 2018, Tehran has abandoned all the limits of its uranium
stockpile. It now enriches up to 20% purity, a technical step away from
weapons-grade levels of 90%. Iran maintains its atomic program is for peaceful
purposes.
On Tuesday, an Iranian cargo ship said to serve as a
floating base for Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard forces off the coast
of Yemen was struck by an explosion, likely from a limpet mine. Iran has blamed
Israel for the blast. That attack escalated a long-running shadow war in
Mideast waterways targeting shipping in the region.
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