A fire and explosion hit a centrifuge production plant above Natanz’s underground nuclear enrichment facility in Iran early Thursday morning, analysts said.
Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization tried to minimize the fire, calling it an “incident” that affected only one “industrial shed” under construction, spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi said, but both Kamalvandi and Iranian nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi rushed to the facility, where over a decade ago, the United States and Israel used the Stuxnet virus to destroy nuclear centrifuges.
Iran downplayed the incident while increasing evidence that the fire was intentional sabotage. Data collected by a satellite from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration revealed that the fire started around 2 a.m. Iranian time, according to The Associated Press.
Images later released by Iranian state media show a two-story brick building with scorched marks and its roof apparently destroyed. Debris on the floor and a door that looked ripped from its hinges suggested that an explosion accompanied the fire.
“There is physical and financial damage and we are investigating to assess,” Kamalvandi told Iranian state television. “Also, there has been no disruption to the enrichment site work. Thank God the site continues its work as before. ”
The BBC reported that its Persian language division received a statement from a previously unknown group called “Cheetahs of the Homeland” claiming responsibility for the fire.
The statement said the group represents “clandestine opposition to Iran’s security apparatus.”
A State Department spokesperson told The Post: “We are monitoring reports of a fire at an Iranian nuclear facility. This incident serves as another reminder of how the Iranian regime continues to prioritize its wrong nuclear program to the detriment of the needs of the Iranian people. ”
Iran’s Atomic Energy Agency released a photo of the damage Thursday and a statement that downplays the “incident.”
Agency spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi said that “one of the technical niches being built in the open space area of the Natanz site was damaged. This incident did not cause any human casualties or inflict danger on complex routine activities.
The spokesperson continued”Due to the likelihood of any contamination occurring, also taking into account the complex’s status-free activity position, there is nothing to worry about, and currently, the Organization’s expert teams are present at the site and investigate the matter. ”
Theocracy rulers insist that their nuclear program is only for power generation, not weapons, but the claim is widely questioned.
On Thursday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told the UN Security Council that Iran was “the most egregious terrorist regime in the world”, in an effort to extend a tight arms embargo expected Expire in October.
In 2018, President Trump withdrew the United States from a multilateral nuclear deal with Iran that former President Barack Obama and European allies hoped would prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. Trump said the deal enriched Iran and did not do enough to prevent weapons development.
However, Trump has followed a very thin line with Iran, often suggesting a new nuclear deal and inviting the nation’s leaders to call it. Trump criticizes the Middle East wars of previous presidents and suspended retaliatory airstrikes after Iran shot down a U.S. drone last year.
In January, Trump ordered an airstrike in Iraq that killed Iranian military leader Qassem Soleimani, who supported Iranian-linked militias across the region. Iran retaliated by firing missiles at US bases.
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