Iran Identifies Natanz Saboteurs: IAEO

Date: 06 September 2020 - 22:30

News ID: ۸۲۵۱۷

TEHRAN (Dispatches) – Iran has identified those behind the blast and fire at the Natanz nuclear facility, the spokesperson for Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization (IAEO) says.
"The security agencies are thoroughly investigating what happened in Natanz, which was sabotage. A far as we know, they have managed to identify the forces [responsible for the sabotage], identify the causes, details, and methods”, Behrouz Kamalvandi said on Sunday.
Kamalvandi, meantime, said that he is not informed of the detailed information, adding that because the issue is still under investigations, no more information can be provided for now. He added that the security officials will announce the details of the incident and the way it took place in due time.
Days after the explosion, the Iranian media indirectly blamed the United States and the Zionist regime, saying Washington had give the green light to the Zionist regime’s involvement in the blast.
The explosion at the Natanz nuclear facility, the largest in Iran, occurred on 2 July. It did not result in radioactive leaks or significant damage, with Iranian officials saying that the nuclear reactor operates as usual.
Kamalvandi added that the saboteurs sought to disrupt the uranium enrichment process at the Natanz facility, but they failed.
Therefore, the Iranian official said, the AEOI decided to build another shed at the nuclear facility, stressing, "Their desperate effort did not stop us.”
The AEOI spokesman likened the current conditions facing the country to a ‘scene of war,’ saying, "We might suffer a loss in this scene, but it only makes us more motivated for defense and work.”
In July, Kamalvandi said that Iran would show a smart reaction to the recent blast at Natanz nuclear facility if it is proven that foreigners were involved in the incident.
"There is no doubt that the honorable Iran will adopt its measures based on the country’s interests. The strategic and inviolable policy of the Islamic Republic in different cases and positions is a smart and wise reaction based on the three principles of honor, wisdom and expediency,” Kamalvandi wrote in the Persian-language Etemad newspaper on July 13.
He also blasted the Western and Zionist media for not condemning the blast while claiming that the incident has happened as a result of an attack or act of sabotage.
"Such positions by the media and western officials is a double-standard behavior and unacceptable,” Kamalvandi said.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Kamalvandi said the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is under political pressure and its Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi has also confirmed this issue, but promised to act in a professional way.
Pointing to a trip by the IAEA’s chief to Tehran on August 24 and 25 and his talks with senior Iranian officials, which led to the issuance of a joint statement aimed at strengthening cooperation and building more confidence, the AEOI spokesman said, "The Islamic Republic of Iran has nothing to conceal. So, it allowed the IAEA to have access to demanded sites, because further prolongation of this issue and not giving the agency the permission [to visit those sites] would have only benefited the U.S.”
At the end of the two-day trip by the IAEA chief, Iran and the UN agency issued a joint statement on agreements and the results of high-level talks between the two sides.
"After intensive bilateral consultations, Iran and the IAEA reached an agreement on the resolution of the safeguards implementation issues specified by the IAEA, in good faith. In this regard, Iran is voluntarily providing the IAEA with access to the two locations specified by the

IAEA and facilitating the IAEA verification activities to resolve these issues,” the statement added.
At the end of August, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said Tehran would respond if it discovers that the act of sabotage was organized from abroad.