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Updated June 23rd, 2021 at 19:50 IST

Iran foils 'sabotage attack' on civilian nuclear facility: Report

Iran officials thwarted what they called a “sabotage attack” targetting a civilian nuclear facility near the country’s capital, Iranian media outlet reported.

Reported by: Bhavya Sukheja
Iran
IMAGE: AP/TWITTER | Image:self
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Iranian officials on June 23 thwarted what they called a “sabotage attack” targetting a civilian nuclear facility near the country’s capital, Iranian media outlet reported. According to Nournews, a website believed to be close to Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, first reported the attack and informed that the move was foiled before causing any casualties or damage to the sprawling centre located in Karaj city. It further also said that authorities were investigating the cause of the sabotage. 

According to the Associated Press, Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization describes the Karaj Nuclear Center for Medicine and Agriculture as a facility founded in 1974 that uses nuclear technology to improve “quality of soil, water, agricultural and livestock production”. The area is located near various industrial sites, including pharmaceutical production facilities where Iran has manufactured its domestic coronavirus vaccine. The centre is located some 40 kilometres west of Tehran.

Attacks targeting Iran’s nuclear program 

Meanwhile, the reported “sabotage” follows several suspected attacks targeting Iran’s nuclear program in recent months. Back in April, Iran’s underground Natanz nuclear facility experienced a mysterious blackout that damaged some of its centrifuges. Last year in July, mysterious fires struck the advanced centrifuge assembly plant at Natanz, which authorities later described as sabotage.

Israel is widely believed to have carried out the sabotage, though it has not claimed it. Iran also blamed Israel for the November killing of a scientist who began the country’s military nuclear program decades earlier. It is worth noting that the recent attacks come amid a time when diplomatic efforts have gained traction in Vienna to resurrect Tehran’s tattered 2015 atomic deal with world powers. 

Back in 2018, former US President Donald Trump had pulled the US unilaterally out of the nuclear deal and reimposed devastating sanctions, setting off a series of tense incidents that threatened the wider Mideast. Trump’s decision to withdraw from the deal has seen Iran, over time, abandon all limitations on uranium enrichment. Now, the country is enriching uranium to 60%, its highest ever levels, although still short of weapons-grade. Iran has said that its nuclear ambitions are peaceful and that it will return to its commitments once the US lifts its sanctions.

Image: AP/Twitter

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Published June 23rd, 2021 at 19:50 IST

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