Iran has been rocked by a series of explosions and fires at major industrial sites, including nuclear power plants. All of the incidents have occurred since June 25th.
An explosion at a missile complex and a medical centre, power cuts, chemical leaks, a fire at an industrial fuel storage facility and apparent explosions at the Zargan nuclear facility and the Natanz enrichment facility are among the incidents that have so far been reported. There is no clear indication as to how they are linked though one group has claimed responsibility, according to the BBC.
Another video. pic.twitter.com/f7goYoMkNQ
— Farnaz Fassihi (@farnazfassihi) June 25, 2020
'The Cheetahs of the Homeland' a previously unheard of group, claiming to be made up of dissidents opposed to the current Iranian regime, have stated they were responsible for the attack on Natanz, though quite how true this is and what their exact motives are is unclear. Iran itself has not confirmed whether all these incidents were actual sabotage or mere accidents and has pointed the finger more so against their long time foes, the United States and Israel, than internal dissidents.
IRIB is now broadcasting footage of the spokesman of #Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization giving a tour of the wreckage from the incident at #Natanz. 1/2 pic.twitter.com/zk9b6HK2zg
— Jason Brodsky (@JasonMBrodsky) July 2, 2020
The state-run IRNA news agency in Iran carried a statement saying:
"The Islamic Republic of Iran has so far tried to prevent intensifying crises and the formation of unpredictable conditions and situations, the crossing of red lines of the Islamic Republic of Iran by hostile countries, especially the Zionist regime and the US, means that strategy ... should be revised."
Iran has been engaged in a long back-and-forth with the West over its nuclear program. Iran claims it wishes to develop nuclear power for civilian use, while its opponents, the US and Israel, worry that the nuclear facilities can provide materials to build Iranian nuclear weapons. Israel has bombed nuclear sites in Iran previously, and in January, the United States killed an Iranian military general, Qasem Soleimani, in Iraq. The Iranian regime responded by firing missiles towards US positions stationed in the Iraqi countryside.
Israel and Iran have also been seen to be conducting cyber-attacks on each other over the last number of years, aimed at causing disruption and chaos within their respective enemy's territory. It is known that in 2005 the Natanz facility was infiltrated by a cyber-attack program known as Stuxnet, a worm program developed between Israel, the US and Western allies, in what was named 'Operation Nitro Zeus'. However, according to a US Source, who spoke to 'Zero Days', a documentary about Stuxnet, Israel went rogue with the program and intentionally accelerated it to damage Iranian infrastructure. The source said:
"Our friends in Israel took a weapon that we jointly developed—in part to keep Israel from doing something crazy—and then used it on their own in a way that blew the cover the operation and could've led to war."
On pondering whether the nuclear enrichment centre at Natanz could be accidental, Fabian Hinz, a research associate at the James Martin Centre for Nonproliferation Studies in California, appeared to suggest that it would be highly coincidental that such a fire would break out at such a location, particularly amidst heightened tensions and the other incidents.
He said:
"A centrifuge assembly building could catch fire, but what I find interesting is that it's this one, very sensitive building that catches fire or explodes."
Until more details are released, speculation as to what is exactly going on in Iran will continue. There is no doubt though that tensions are near an all-time high and the consequences could be disastrous for all involved.
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