Natanz nuclear plant attack ‘will set back Iran’s programme by nine months’: US intelligence sources believe Israel was behind Saturday’s cyber-attack on heavily guarded facility
The Guardian ^ | 04/12/2021
Posted on 4/12/2021, 11:26:11 AM by SeekAndFind
The cyber-attack on the heavily guarded Natanz plant in Iran will set back Tehran’s nuclear programme by nine months, US intelligence sources have claimed.
Iran’s foreign ministry has blamed Israel for the attack, and although Israel has not confirmed responsibility its officials have done little to dispel the notion.
US intelligence sources told the New York Times the attack on Saturday led to an explosion that destroyed the independently protected power supply to advanced centrifuges that create enriched uranium, and that it could take at least nine months to restore production. The sources said they believed Israel was responsible.
Israel appears to confirm it carried out cyberattack on Iran nuclear facility Read more Iranian intelligence claimed to have identified an individual inside the plant’s hall who was responsible for the sabotage by disrupting the flow of electricity, but the account was being treated with caution and may be intended to show the plant’s electricity flow was not vulnerable to external attack.
At a press conference, the Iranian foreign ministry said no one was injured and only a relatively simple centrifuge had been damaged, which would be replaced by more advanced models that could purify uranium at greater speed. However, the plant’s proven vulnerability to Israeli attack makes this claim questionable.
There was no comment on the attack by the US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, who was in Jerusalem at the time. Standing next to him at a press conference, Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, did not confirm his country’s role in the attack but appeared to reference the incident.
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
