Iran Says it Thwarted Nuclear Site Sabotage it Ascribes to Israel

Photo from a brochure published by the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization on Nov. 6, 2019, showing the interior of the Fordow plant in Qom, Iran. (Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, AFP file photo)
Photo from a brochure published by the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization on Nov. 6, 2019, showing the interior of the Fordow plant in Qom, Iran. (Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, AFP file photo)
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Iran Says it Thwarted Nuclear Site Sabotage it Ascribes to Israel

Photo from a brochure published by the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization on Nov. 6, 2019, showing the interior of the Fordow plant in Qom, Iran. (Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, AFP file photo)
Photo from a brochure published by the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization on Nov. 6, 2019, showing the interior of the Fordow plant in Qom, Iran. (Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, AFP file photo)

Iranian state television said on Monday its security forces had thwarted a planned sabotage at the country's major Fordow nuclear site by a network it accused Israel of recruiting. It said the forces made arrests.

The Israeli prime minister's office had no immediate comment on the report.

The television said an Israeli officer first contacted a neighbor of an employee of the uranium enrichment plant and managed to recruit them both after paying them in cash and digital currency.

Revolutionary Guards security agents were monitoring the network and were able to break it up before the sabotage could be carried out, arresting an unspecified number of people, the television said.

The state news agency IRNA said a new agency called Revolutionary Guards Nuclear Command, which it said had been set up to oversee defense and security matters at nuclear installations, was involved in the operation to stop the planned sabotage.

Iran has accused Israel of carrying out several attacks on facilities linked to its nuclear program and of killing its nuclear scientists over the past years. Israel has neither denied nor confirmed the allegations.

In April 2021, Tehran said an incident that disrupted the flow of power at Iran’s Natanz uranium enrichment facility, in the desert in the central province of Isfahan, was caused by an act of “nuclear terrorism”.



Iran Will Never Give Up on its Missile Program, Says President

An Iranian flag flies in front of the UN office building, housing IAEA headquarters, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Vienna, Austria, May 24, 2021. (Reuters)
An Iranian flag flies in front of the UN office building, housing IAEA headquarters, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Vienna, Austria, May 24, 2021. (Reuters)
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Iran Will Never Give Up on its Missile Program, Says President

An Iranian flag flies in front of the UN office building, housing IAEA headquarters, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Vienna, Austria, May 24, 2021. (Reuters)
An Iranian flag flies in front of the UN office building, housing IAEA headquarters, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Vienna, Austria, May 24, 2021. (Reuters)

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Monday that Tehran would never give up on its missile program as it needs such deterrence for its security in a region where Iran's arch-foe Israel is able to "drop missiles on Gaza every day".

Iran has for years defied Western calls to limit its missile program.

The United States and its allies have more recently accused Iran of transferring ballistic missiles to Russia for its war in Ukraine, imposing fresh sanctions on Moscow and Tehran.

Both countries have denied the claims.

"If we don’t have missiles, they will bomb us whenever they want, just like in Gaza," Pezeshkian said, referring to the conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas.

He reiterated Tehran's official stance, calling on the international community "to first disarm Israel before making the same demands to Iran".

The president also said his country could hold direct talks with the United States if Washington demonstrates "in practice" that it is not hostile to the Islamic Republic.
This came in response to a question during the news conference in Tehran on whether Tehran would be open to direct talks with the US to revive a 2015 nuclear deal.
Former US president Donald Trump reneged on that deal in 2018, arguing it was too generous to Tehran, and restored harsh US sanctions on Iran, prompting Tehran to gradually violate the agreement's nuclear limits.
"We are not hostile towards the US, they should end their hostility towards us by showing their goodwill in practice," said Pezeshkian, adding: "We are brothers with the Americans as well."
After taking office in January 2021, US President Joe Biden tried to negotiate a revival of the nuclear pact under which Iran had restricted its nuclear program in return for relief from US, European Union and UN sanctions.
However, Tehran refused to directly negotiate with Washington and worked mainly through European or Arab intermediaries.

On Russia, the Iranian president affirmed that his government had not transferred any weapons to Russia since it took office in August, after Western powers accused Tehran of delivering ballistic missiles to Moscow in September.
The United States and its allies accused Iran last week of transferring ballistic missiles to Russia for its war in Ukraine, imposing fresh sanctions on Moscow and Tehran.
Russia and Iran both denied the Western claims.
Asked whether Iran had transferred missiles to Russia, Pezeshkian said: "It is possible that a delivery took place in the past... but I can assure you that since I took office, there has not been any such delivery to Russia."
Reuters reported in February that Iran had provided Russia with a large number of powerful surface-to-surface ballistic missiles, deepening the military cooperation between the two US-sanctioned countries.