Blaming Israel, Iran vows revenge for blackout at nuclear site

News Desk :
The Iranian foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, vowed revenge against Israel on Monday morning, a day after a blackout at an Iranian nuclear enrichment site was attributed to an Israeli attack.
Mr. Zarif’s comments highlight the risk of escalation in a yearslong shadow war between Iran and Israel. They also threaten to overshadow efforts in Vienna to encourage Iran to reimpose limits on its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of American sanctions.
In a statement broadcast by Iranian state television, Mr. Zarif was quoted as saying: “The Zionists want to take revenge because of our progress in the way to lift sanctions.”
He added, “But we will take our revenge from the Zionists,” according to the broadcast.
Mr. Zarif’s reported comments followed a power failure on Sunday at the Natanz uranium enrichment site that Iranian officials attributed to Israeli sabotage. The Israeli government formally declined to comment on its involvement, but American and Israeli officials confirmed separately to The New York Times that Israel had played a role. Israeli news outlets, citing intelligence sources, attributed the attack to the Mossad, the Israeli spy agency.
Two officials briefed on the matter said that the blackout was caused by an explosion that targeted the power supply for thousands of underground centrifuges that form the main Iranian enrichment program.
A spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Behrouz Kamalvandi, said on Monday that the blast

had created a crater so big that he had fallen into it, injuring his head, back, leg and arm.
The attack risked igniting public tensions between Israel and the Biden administration over the right way to approach Iran and its nuclear ambitions. It occurred as the U.S. defense secretary, Lloyd J. Austin III, was in Israel for meetings with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Benny Gantz.
Israeli and American officials declined to say whether the U.S. government had been warned of the attack in advance, or whether the attack had been timed to coincide with Mr. Austin’s visit.
Iran has long maintained that its nuclear program is peaceful and aimed at energy development. But Israel sees it as an existential threat, since Iranian leaders have often called for Israel’s destruction.
“We both agree that Iran must never possess nuclear weapons,” Mr. Netanyahu said Monday. “My policy as prime minister of Israel is clear. I will never allow Iran to obtain the nuclear capability to carry out its genocidal goal of eliminating Israel, and Israel will continue to defend itself against Iran’s aggression, and terrorism.”
Mr. Netanyahu described the United States on Monday as “not just allies – we’re family.” But the Natanz attack was a reminder of the differences between Mr. Netanyahu’s Iran policy and President Joseph R. Biden’s approach.
The episode could complicate efforts by the Biden administration to encourage Iran to return to something close to the 2015 agreement negotiated by the Obama administration, in which Tehran promised to limit its enrichment program.
The deal collapsed in 2018, when President Donald J. Trump reimposed sanctions on Iran, and Iran reneged on commitments to curb its nuclear plans.
Israel opposes returning to the same deal, arguing that it did not impose strong enough or long enough restrictions on Iranian nuclear activity. Courtesy: The New York Times