Iranian nuclear energy body spokesman said that a fire that broke out on Thursday at a key nuclear facility has caused “significant damage”.
He didn’t specify the details but has confirmed that the cause of this catastrophe at the Natanz enrichment site has been determined. He added that the destroyed machinery will be replaced by more advanced technology.
The centrifuge assembly workshop was hit by the fire with some Iranian officials claiming the incident on cyber sabotage and one warned Tehran would retaliate against any country carrying out such attacks.
Centrifuges are necessary to generate enriched uranium, for which reactor fuel but also nuclear weapons are among its key uses.
Behrouz Kamalvandi, a spokesman for Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation, said on Sunday that security officials were not talking about what caused the Natanz fire “because of security reasons”. The incident, he said, had “caused significant damage, but there were no casualties”.
This isn’t an isolated incident. Unfortunately, there have been other fires and explosions that occurred in Iran in the past week.
Mr. Kamalvandi added: “The incident could slow down the development and production of advanced centrifuges in the medium term… Iran will replace the damaged building with a bigger one that has more advanced equipment.”
Possible Israel Involvement?
An article by IRNA last week addressed what it called the possibility of sabotage by enemies such as Israel and the United States, although it stopped short of accusing either directly.
In 2010, the Stuxnet computer virus, widely believed to have been developed by the US and Israel, was discovered after it was used to attack Natanz.
Asked whether Israel had anything to do with “mysterious explosions” at Iranian nuclear sites, Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz said: “Not every incident that transpires in Iran necessarily has something to do with us.”
“All those systems are complex, they have very high safety constraints and I’m not sure they always know how to maintain them,” Gantz told Israel Radio.
Israel, widely believed to be the region’s only nuclear power, has pledged never to allow Iran to obtain atomic weapons, saying Tehran advocates its destruction.
Israel has backed Donald Trump’s “maximum pressure” policy on Tehran aimed at forcing it to agree to a new deal that puts stricter limits on its nuclear work, curbs its ballistic missile program, and ends its regional proxy wars.
What Really Happened On Thursday?
Given the security sensitivity of the facility, it’s no surprise there have been few details about the incident.
The fire occurred at “one of the industrial sheds under construction” at Natanz, Mr. Kamalvandi said at the time.
The AEOI later published a photograph that showed a partly burned building, which American analysts classified as a new centrifuge assembly workshop. Reuters news agency cited unnamed Iranian officials as stating that they believed the fire was the result of a cyber attack but did not cite any real concrete evidence.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which is in charge of monitoring Iran’s compliance with a 2015 nuclear deal made with world powers, said it anticipated no impact on its verification activities.
Not The Only Incident?
Only six days after an explosion occurred near the Parching military complex came the Natanz fire. Although Iranian authorities claim that that blast was a result of “leaking gas tanks” on the side, many analysts are saying that the satellite photos actually indicate that the explosion happened at a nearby missile production facility.
The Parchin location is near the capital of Tehran and is the place where Western powers are believing that Iran performed nuclear warhead tests more than ten years ago.
Iran maintains that its nuclear program is peaceful and denies that it looked to develop nuclear weapons.
Sunday’s report from the officials stated that had been a fire at a power plant located in the vicinity of the southwestern city of Ahvaz. They’ve said that the fire has been put out and that the electricity is restored.
Why Is The Natanz Location So Important?
Natanz is about 250 kilometers (150 miles) south of the capital Tehran and is Iran’s largest uranium enrichment facility.
The 2015 nuclear agreement saw Iran agree only to produce low-enriched uranium, which has a 3-4% concentration of U-235 and can be used to produce fuel for nuclear power plants. Weapons-grade uranium is 90% enriched or more.
Iran also agreed to install no more than 5,060 of the oldest and least efficient centrifuges at Natanz until 2026, and not to carry out any enrichment at its other underground facility, Fordo, until 2031.
Due to US President Donald Trump last year’s decision to abandon that nuclear deal and reinstate the crippling economic sanctions, Iran began rolling back the commitment that they made in retaliation.
In November, Iran said it had doubled the number of advanced centrifuges being operated at Natanz and had begun injecting uranium hexafluoride gas into centrifuges at Fordo.
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