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Agence France-Presse

Iran charged on Monday that its arch-enemy Israel was “of course” behind an attack on its main nuclear site, the Natanz uranium enrichment plant, and vowed “revenge … in due time”.
The Natanz site near Tehran was hit by a power outage on Sunday that Iran labelled “terrorism”. No one was injured and there was no radiation release, Iran said.
The latest of a string of incidents hitting Iran’s nuclear programme came days after talks resumed in Vienna to salvage the battered 2015 Iranian nuclear deal that former US president Donald Trump abandoned.
His successor Joe Biden wants to revive the agreement between Iran and a group of world powers, which places limits on the Islamic republic’s nuclear programme in return for relief from biting economic sanctions.
Iran nuclear facility hit by blackout after starting up advanced centrifuges
Israel strongly opposes the deal and has vowed to disrupt any efforts by the Islamic republic to build an atomic bomb – a goal Tehran has always strongly denied pursuing.
Tehran has blamed Israel’s Mossad spy service for previous attacks on its nuclear facilities and experts – including the killing last November of its top nuclear scientist.
Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said on Monday it was clear the latest incident too was an Israeli act of sabotage. “Of course the Zionist regime, with this action, tried to take revenge on the people of Iran for their patience and wise attitude regarding the lifting of sanctions.”
Khatibzadeh vowed that Iran’s response would be to take “revenge on the Zionist regime” when and where it chooses. 
“If the purpose was to interrupt the path of lifting the oppressive sanctions against Iran, they will certainly not reach their goal.”
Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was quoted as saying Tehran would not allow the attack to affect the Vienna talks, to avoid “falling in the trap” set by Israel, state news agency IRNA reported.

Israel has not claimed responsibility for the Natanz incident but unsourced media reports in the country attributed it to the Israeli security services.
Israeli public broadcast journalist Amichai Stein tweeted on Sunday that “the assessment is” that the Natanz incident is the “result of an Israeli cyber operation”, without providing evidence.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has always been a fierce critic of the Iran nuclear deal.
China champions Iran sanctions relief
On Wednesday, the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day, he said the Jewish state would not be bound to any agreement that would enable Iran to develop “weapons that threaten our extinction”.
Netanyahu was due to meet visiting US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin on Monday.
While Trump from 2018 ramped up crippling sanctions against Iran in a “maximum pressure” campaign, Iran later responded by progressively rolling back its own commitments under the agreement.

The Natanz blackout came a day after Tehran announced on Saturday, Iran’s National Nuclear Technology Day, that it had started up advanced uranium enrichment centrifuges banned under the deal.
In a televised ceremony, President Hassan Rowhani inaugurated a cascade of 164 IR-6 centrifuges for producing enriched uranium, as well as two test cascades of 30 IR-5 and 30 IR-6S devices respectively.
The equipment enables quicker enrichment of uranium and in higher quantities, to levels that violate Iran’s commitments under its deal with the five permanent UN Security Council powers plus Germany.
Iran and China sign 25-year cooperation agreement
Rowhani on Saturday also inaugurated a replacement factory at Natanz, after an explosion at a facility making advanced centrifuges there last July.
Iranian authorities likewise blamed the July incident on “sabotage” by “terrorists”, but have not released the results of their investigation into it.


In November last year, Iran’s top nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was killed by machine gun fire while travelling on a highway outside Tehran.
Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards said a satellite-controlled gun with “artificial intelligence” was used in the attack, which Tehran blamed on Israel.
Rowhani had again underlined at Saturday’s ceremony that Tehran’s nuclear programme is solely for “peaceful” purposes.


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Iran

Iran blames Israel for ‘terrorist’ act after Natanz nuclear facility blackout

Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility. Photo: AP

A technician inside the Natanz uranium enrichment plant. Photo: EPA

President Hassan Rowhani oversees the launch of advanced centrifuges at the Natanz plant. Photo: Reuters

Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility hit by ‘suspicious’ blackout, a day after starting up advanced centrifuges

The Natanz uranium enrichment facility 250km south of the Iranian capital Tehran. It experienced a power failure on Sunday. Photo: Reuters

This April 7 satellite photo shows Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility, which suffered a power failure on Sunday. Photo: AP

US, Israel pledge to work together to ensure any new Iran nuclear deal safeguards regional security

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin is on a visit to Israel, the first by a senior Biden administration official. Photo: AFP

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks in Jerusalem on April 7. Photo: Kyodo

Iran frees South Korean ship, captain after promise to help with frozen funds

The South Korean oil tanker held for months by Tehran leaves the port in Bandar Abbas, Iran, on Friday. Photo: South Korea Foreign Ministry via AP

Seoul said the captain and sailors are in good health. Photo: South Korea Foreign Ministry via EPA-EFE

News

World

Middle East


Regional tensions rise after underground atomic facility hit by blackout that Iran labelled ‘terrorism’
The episode came a day after Iran said it had started up advanced uranium enrichment centrifuges at the site, in a breach of its nuclear deal commitments



Regional tensions rise as Iran’s top atomic official calls incident at the country’s largest uranium enrichment facility a terrorist act.


US-Iran tensions

Israel

United States

Iran blames Israel for ‘terrorist’ act after Natanz nuclear facility blackout

Regional tensions rise after underground atomic facility hit by blackout that Iran labelled ‘terrorism’ The episode came a day after Iran said it had started up advanced uranium enrichment centrifuges at the site, in a breach of its nuclear deal commitments

Regional tensions rise after underground atomic facility hit by blackout that Iran labelled ‘terrorism’

The episode came a day after Iran said it had started up advanced uranium enrichment centrifuges at the site, in a breach of its nuclear deal commitments