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”.



Putin Orders Military to Boost Troop Numbers by 180,000 to 1.5 million as Ukraine Fighting Continues

Russian President Vladimir Putin listens during a meeting with government officials via video conference at the Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, Russia, March 22, 2021. (AP
Russian President Vladimir Putin listens during a meeting with government officials via video conference at the Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, Russia, March 22, 2021. (AP
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Putin Orders Military to Boost Troop Numbers by 180,000 to 1.5 million as Ukraine Fighting Continues

Russian President Vladimir Putin listens during a meeting with government officials via video conference at the Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, Russia, March 22, 2021. (AP
Russian President Vladimir Putin listens during a meeting with government officials via video conference at the Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, Russia, March 22, 2021. (AP

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday ordered the country’s military to increase its number of troops by 180,000 to a total of 1.5 million, as Moscow’s military action in Ukraine drags on for more than 2 ½ years.

Putin’s decree, published on the official government website, will take effect Dec. 1. It sets the overall number of Russian military personnel at nearly 2.4 million, including 1.5 million troops, and orders the government to provide the necessary funding, The AP reported.

The previous increase in Russian troop numbers came last December, when a decree by Putin set the total number of Russian military personnel at about 2.2 million, including 1.32 million troops.

The most capable Russian troops have been pressing an offensive in eastern Ukraine, where they have made incremental but steady gains in the past few months.

In June, Putin put the number of troops involved in what the Kremlin calls the “special military operation” in Ukraine at nearly 700,000.

After calling up 300,000 reservists in the face of Ukraine’s counteroffensive in the fall of 2022, Russian authorities have switched to filling the ranks of troops fighting in Ukraine with volunteer soldiers, who have been attracted by relatively high wages.

Many commentators have noted that the Kremlin has been reluctant to call more reservists, fearing domestic destabilization like what happened in 2022 when hundreds of thousands fled Russia to avoid being sent to combat.

The shortage of military personnel has been widely cited as a key reason behind the success of Ukraine's incursion into Russia's Kursk region launched Aug. 6.

The Kremlin has sought to avoid the redeployment of troops from eastern Ukraine and relied on reinforcements from other areas to stem the Ukrainian incursion. The Russian Defense Ministry on Monday reported reclaiming control of two more villages in the Kursk region from Ukrainian forces.