Suspicious blackout at Iranian Natanz nuclear project, media suspects Isr

Tehran/Dubai/Jerusalem: Reports of power supply to the Iranian Natanz nuclear project getting disrupted are being received. Iran gave ‘accident’ as the primary reason for the disruption. Iran also announced that inquiries are being conducted into the incident. But this incident in the prestigious Natanz nuclear project in Iran raises suspicion. The Israeli media has highlighted the news and is predicting a strong possibility of a cyberattack. Israel and the United States had delivered a severe jolt to Iran by targeting this very nuclear project in 2010.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani informed that the process of injecting Uranium Hexafluoride into the 16 IR-6 and IR-5 centrifuges was started on Saturday night. It is being said that the speed of Uranium enrichment will be increased with this.

Moreover, processing in the advanced IR-9 centrifuges also has been started. Within a few hours of this, the electricity network, connected to the process, collapsed on Sunday, early in the morning.

Behrouz Kamalvandi, the spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said no casualties and damages were reported in the incident. Kamalvandi also said that this was an accident, and an inquiry is being held into the incident. But the Israeli media claimed that this incident in the Natanz nuclear project was a cyberattack, and Israel could have launched it.

The Israeli media cited the previous cyberattack on the Natanz nuclear project in support of the claim. Last year, in July, there had been a suspicious explosion in the Natanz nuclear project. A few hours ago, the Chairman of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Akbar Salehi, had informed that the centrifuge assembly hall had been destroyed in the fire caused by the explosion.

In 2010, the same nuclear project had faced fierce attacks of Stuxnet. More than a thousand centrifuges from the nuclear project had been destroyed in these attacks. Iran had accused that Israel and the United States had jointly launched the Stuxnet attacks.

This Iranian project is underground to keep it safe against the threat of airstrikes. The Israeli media is pointing out that the Natanz project is still suffering massive damages due to cyberattacks.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of Defence, Lloyd Austin, is on a visit to Israel. While indirect talks are being held in Vienna between the United States and Iran over the nuclear deal, the US Secretary of Defence’s visit to Israel becomes significant. The Israeli Prime Minister had clarified, two days ago, that Israel will not be bound by the new nuclear agreement between the United States and Iran. Therefore, blackout in the Natanz Project is being viewed with suspicion.