In Letter to UN Chief,

Zarif Raps Act of Sabotage at Natanz Nuclear Site

Date: 13 April 2021 - 22:23

News ID: ۸۹۱۵۴

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – In a letter to United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Iranian Foreign Minister Muhammad Javad Zarif has strongly condemned the deliberate targeting of Iran’s nuclear facilities as a "war crime.”
Iran’s top diplomat sent the letter to the UN chief on Monday, a day after a sabotage attack targeted the electricity distribution network of Ahmadi Roshan nuclear facility in Natanz, which is a uranium enrichment center located in central Iran.
The attack caused a blackout and the disruption of the operations of this sensitive nuclear facility which has been under the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)’s safeguards and extensive monitoring.
Zarif said in his letter to Guterres that the timely and professional containment measures adopted by the highly dedicated management and staff of the NFEP and Iranian Atomic Energy Organization averted what could have become a human and environmental catastrophe.
"The deliberate targeting of a highly sensitive safeguarded nuclear facility—with the high risk of potential release of radioactive material—constitutes reckless criminal nuclear terrorism,” Iran’s foreign minister stressed.
"Considering the possible indiscriminate human and environmental consequences of this international crime, those who planned, ordered, participated, and carried out this cowardly act committed a grave war crime; one that must not go unpunished. Any power with knowledge of, or acquiescence in, this act must also be held accountable as an accomplice to this war crime,” Zarif added.
Earlier on Monday and during a session of the Iranian parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, Zarif stressed that Natanz would be stronger than before after it was reconstructed using advanced machines and that the perpetrators were wrong to think the act of sabotage would undermine Iran’s position in the nuclear negotiations.
Following the attack on Sunday, Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi slammed the act of sabotage, saying the international community and the IAEA must deal with such "nuclear terrorism” that targets Iran’s facilities, Press TV reported.