The attack on Natanz nuclear project in Iran more dangerous than Stuxnet

New York: A US newspaper has claimed that Israel perpetrated the fire at the Natanz nuclear project in Iran. The paper claimed that this attack and its consequences were more dreadful than the Stuxnet cyberattack launched by Israel 10 years ago on the Iranian nuclear project. Whereas, the newspaper also expressed a possibility that the attack has set the Iranian nuclear project back by nearly two years. Meanwhile, the Israeli military has maintained its policy of not reacting to the accusations made in the newspapers.

Last week, The New York Times said that there could be two reasons for the blast at the Iranian Natanz nuclear project, quoting sources in the intelligence agencies in the Gulf. The US newspaper said that this is claimed to have been carried out with a bomb planted on the pipeline supplying gas to the nuclear project. But the paper also noted that this is a remote possibility. The newspaper has expressed the possibility of a cyberattack on the nuclear project.

In 2010, Israel and the United States had carried out cyberattacks on the Natanz and Bushehr nuclear power projects in Iran. Thousands of centrifuges in these nuclear projects were rendered useless in this Stuxnet virus attack. This had directly affected the Iranian nuclear program. The US newspaper claimed that the cyberattack launched in the last week was more dreadful than the Stuxnet attack. The US newspaper, quoting officials from the intelligence agencies in the Gulf, said that this attack caused enormous damage to the nuclear project and the Iranian nuclear program has been set back by at least two years.

Karim Sadjadpour, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, while talking to the US newspaper, said that the Iranian government is facing severe consequences of the attack. Already, the Iranian government is reeling under pressures of economic crisis and US sanctions. Analysts said that the blast had triggered discontent against the Iranian government.