Israeli cyber attack caused Iran nuclear site fire: Report
IANS
July 4, 2020
JERUSALEM -- Israel was responsible for two blasts at Iranian facilities, one
related to uranium enrichment and the other for missile production, over
the past week, a Kuwaiti newspaper has claimed.
The Al-Jareeda daily cited an unnamed senior source as saying that an
Israeli cyber attack caused a fire and explosion at the largely
underground Natanz nuclear enrichment facility on Thursday morning,
reports The Times of Israel.
According to the source, this was expected to set back Iran''s nuclear enrichment program by approximately two months.
Natanz, located some 250 km south of Tehran, includes underground
facilities buried under some 25 feet of concrete, which offers
protection from airstrikes. The facility is a Fuel Enrichment Plant
covering 100,000 square meters.
Photographs of the site showed significant damage to one above-ground
building, which was covered in scorch marks and had its roof apparently
destroyed.
The Al-Jareeda daily also reported that on June 26, Israeli F-35 stealth
fighter jets bombed a site located in the area of Parchin, which is
believed to house a missile production complex - an area of particular
concern for the Jewish state, in light of the large number and
increasing sophistication of missiles and rockets in the arsenals of
Iranian proxies, notably Lebanon''s Hezbollah.
Neither of these claims have been confirmed by Israeli officials as of now.
The reported Israeli strikes followed an alleged Iranian attempt to hack
into Israel''s water infrastructure in April, an effort that was
thwarted by Israeli cyber defenses.
But if successful, it could have introduced dangerous levels of chlorine
into the Israeli water supply and otherwise seriously interrupted the
flow of water throughout the country, reports The Times of Israel.
Ultimately, the alleged Iranian cyber attack caused minimal issues, according to Israeli officials.
Meanwhile, Iran''s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) said on
Friday that the country''s experts have determined the main cause of the
inciden at the Natanz nuclear facility and will announce it at an
"appropriate time".
Experts from different sectors started investigating "different
hypotheses" about the "incident" at the Natanz site in central Iran
immediately after its occurrence, and have determined its main cause,
SNSC spokesman Keyvan Khosravi was quoted as saying on Friday by Xinhua
news agency.
"Due to some security considerations, the cause and manner of this incident will be announced at a proper time," said Khosravi.
No comments:
Post a Comment