Jerusalem: Israel was responsible for two blasts at Iranian facilities, one related to uranium enrichment and the other for missile production, over the past week, a Kuwaiti newspaper has claimed.
The Al-Jareeda daily cited an unnamed senior source as saying that an Israeli cyberattack caused a fire and explosion at the largely underground Natanz nuclear enrichment facility on Thursday morning, reports The Times of Israel.
According to the source, this was expected to set back Iran’s nuclear enrichment program by approximately two months.
Natanz, located some 250 km south of Tehran, includes underground facilities buried under some 25 feet of concrete, which offers protection from airstrikes. The facility is a Fuel Enrichment Plant covering 100,000 square meters.
Photographs of the site showed significant damage to one above-ground building, which was covered in scorch marks and had its roof apparently destroyed.
The Al-Jareeda daily also reported that on June 26, Israeli F-35 stealth fighter jets bombed a site located in the area of Parchin, which is believed to house a missile production complex – an area of particular concern for the Jewish state, in light of the large number and increasing sophistication of missiles and rockets in the arsenals of Iranian proxies, notably Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
Neither of these claims have been confirmed by Israeli officials as of now.
The reported Israeli strikes followed an alleged Iranian attempt to hack into Israel’s water infrastructure in April, an effort that was thwarted by Israeli cyber defences.
But if successful, it could have introduced dangerous levels of chlorine into the Israeli water supply and otherwise seriously interrupted the flow of water throughout the country, reports The Times of Israel.
Ultimately, the alleged Iranian cyberattack caused minimal issues, according to Israeli officials.
Meanwhile, Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) said on Friday that the country’s experts have determined the main cause of the inciden at the Natanz nuclear facility and will announce it at an “appropriate time”.
Experts from different sectors started investigating “different hypotheses” about the “incident” at the Natanz site in central Iran immediately after its occurrence, and have determined its main cause, SNSC spokesman Keyvan Khosravi was quoted as saying on Friday by Xinhua news agency.
“Due to some security considerations, the cause and manner of this incident will be announced at a proper time,” said Khosravi.
