According to American and Israeli intelligence officials, Israel was involved in an explosion at Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility that knocked out power in Iran. The power outage destroyed the functioning of the centrifuges used to enrich uranium at Natanz, which is known as Iran’s flagship nuclear plant.
It isn’t the first time that Israel was involved in a strike against the Natanz facility. In July last year, Iran said it suffered serious damage to the same site following a bomb attack; two intelligence officials stated that Israel had a role.
Strangely enough, despite the persistent naive belief that Iran is enriching uranium for peaceful domestic purposes, Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, tacitly admitted to Iran’s ambitions:
The action this morning against the Natanz enrichment site shows the defeat of those who oppose our country’s nuclear and political development and the significant gains of our nuclear industry.
Less than two days earlier, Iran’s president Hassan Rouhani “unveiled new ‘third-generation’ centrifuges that its nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi boasted could enrich uranium ‘much faster than current technology,’ which would ‘shorten the time it takes to build a nuclear bomb.’”
Iran has been boasting about its military might ever since Joe Biden took over the White House. The regime has also demanded that Biden immediately lift sanctions, while Biden has called for a return to the negotiating table to hammer out a renewed nuke deal, despite Iran’s dishonesty regarding the Obama nuke deal. Iran openly admitted to breaching the deal, while Netanyahu provided extensive evidence that the entire deal was based on lies.
Israel also, only days ago, expressed concern about Biden’s position on Iran, referencing it as “troubling.”
It should be clear to any observer that Israel needs to take measures to protect itself from attack by Iran, which aims to obliterate it. It can no longer count on America, as it could under Trump.
“Blackout Hits Iran Nuclear Site in What Appears to Be Israeli Sabotage,” by Ronen Bergman, Rick Gladstone and Farnaz Fassihi, New York Times, April 11, 2021:
A power failure that appeared to have been caused by a deliberately planned explosion struck Iran’s Natanz uranium enrichment site on Sunday, in what Iranian officials called an act of sabotage that they suggested had been carried out by Israel.
The blackout injected new uncertainty into diplomatic efforts that began last week to salvage the 2015 nuclear deal repudiated by the Trump administration.
Iran did not say precisely what had caused the blackout at the heavily fortified site, which has been a target of previous sabotage, and Israel publicly declined to confirm or deny any responsibility. But American and Israeli intelligence officials said there had been an Israeli role.
Two intelligence officials briefed on the damage said it had been caused by a large explosion that completely destroyed the independent — and heavily protected — internal power system that supplies the underground centrifuges that enrich uranium.
The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a classified Israeli operation, said that the explosion had dealt a severe blow to Iran’s ability to enrich uranium and that it could take at least nine months to restore Natanz’s production.
If so, Iran’s leverage in new talks sought by the Biden administration to restore the nuclear agreement could be significantly compromised. Iran has said it will take increasingly strong actions prohibited under the agreement until the sanctions imposed by President Donald J. Trump have been rescinded.
It was not immediately clear how much advance word — if any — the Biden administration received about the Natanz operation, which happened on the same morning that the American defense secretary, Lloyd J. Austin III, was visiting Israel. But Israeli officials have made no secret of their unhappiness over Mr. Biden’s desire to revive the nuclear agreement that his predecessor renounced in 2018.
Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, described the blackout as an act of “nuclear terrorism” and said the international community must confront the threat.
“The action this morning against the Natanz enrichment site shows the defeat of those who oppose our country’s nuclear and political development and the significant gains of our nuclear industry,” Mr. Salehi said, according to the Iranian news media. “The incident shows the failure of those who oppose Iran negotiating for sanctions relief.”….
Buraq says
To be honest, I am beginning to think that Israel has total control of the situation regarding the Ayatollahs’ genocidal ambitions. Nevertheless, I admire the Israeli chutzpa!
Long live Israel.
Duane Mo tez says
Indeed!!
LEONARD William DUNNET says
Let’s hope Israel has nuclear weapons as has been suggested because Iran will back down when confronted.
aniruddha says
Wow Israel, once again walking the talk, and how! The support of India’s Hindus are with you. We have to keep Islam defanged, and you are showing just how it is done. More power to you.
Raja says
Amen Aniruddha
Frank Anderson says
As a matter of my opinion and analysis, Iran has bombs now. The only question is how many and how many more do they want before they start using them. I refuse to believe that after 40 years and tens of billions of dollars spent they have no bombs.
Short story from the first semester law school class on criminal law: I have looked for years without success to find the cite of the case we discussed concerning when the right of self defense starts. An archer in a wooden structure called a keep shot and killed a man who was about to throw a jar with a flaming rag in its mouth, almost certainly containing a flammable liquid that if scattered and ignited on the wooden structure would burn it down and injure or kill the occupants. The judge ruled, and the ruling has been followed ever since, that the right of self defense is both useless and meaningless if we must wait for the bottle to hit the wall. The archer’s killing was not punished.
Daniel Triplett says
Right. If someone is pointing a gun at us, we’re not required to wait for him to pull the trigger before killing him first.
I agree. Iran has nukes. It’s just a matter of how many. I’m guessing they’ll wait until they have several dozen of them before using them, which we know they’ll do. They don’t need sophisticated ICBM delivery systems or submarines. They’ll use their network of proxy goon squads to pre-position the duffel-bag sized devices globally.
It’s incredibly negligent and naive for our government not to kinetically destroy the Iranian nuke program in its infancy. Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Valerie Jarret, John Kerry, et al, are the very worst crew imaginable that we could have in charge of this situation.
gravenimage says
Agree, Frank and Daniel.
Beneath the Veil of Consciousness says
Let’s hope the next power failure directly targets those in power.
Raja says
Beneath the Veil of Consciousness,
That was a master stroke
Infidel says
Good work, Iran. Make it so that Iran’s ‘discussions’ w/ the Biden puppet-masters is moot
Lenny Leaps In says
The main reason why Iran wants nukes is because Sunni Islam has had them for decades. These nukes are located in Pakistan but were purchased by Saudi cash. This is nothing more than a Sunni-Shiite nuclear arms race. But as the Shite Iranian hate Israel we an see why the Israelis knocked out the centrifuges. Bravo Israel!!
Infidel says
No, Pakistan’s nukes were created just for India, not for any islamic rival. And despite Pakistan’s treatment of shi’as, Iran has never been an enemy of Pakistan. In fact, Pakistan is the country where the people have the most favorable impression of Iran, due to the regime, not the people
In fact, most recently, due to the Saudis and other Arabs rebuffing Pakistan on their disputes w/ India, Pakistan has been warming up to both Turkey and Iran. In fact, Pakistan has been smuggling in Iranian oil ever since Saudi Arabia stopped giving them free oil after their fall-out
gravenimage says
Lenny Leaps In wrote:
The main reason why Iran wants nukes is because Sunni Islam has had them for decades.
…………..
Lenny, Iran is not threatening Saudi Arabia or Pakistan, but vowing to wipe nonaggressive Israel off the map.
James Lincoln says
Great work Israel!
Now, with fraudulent Harris/Biden:
Israel is right to totally ignore the United States – and take whatever action necessary in order to protect themselves from anyone who wants to kill them…
Frank Anderson says
James, where would we be now if Czechoslovakia and Poland had not been “at odds” before Munich.
the fixed defenses in the Sudetenland and comparatively well prepared Czech military, the still marginally prepared German military, the strong Polish military compared to the Germans. Even without the French, who were gutless cowards at that point, the Germans would have had a hard time winning. They would have had little or nothing left to attack France etc if they did win Round 1.
To me the obvious point is that when you leave your protection to others, you will not be protected. How’s that protection the US promised South Vietnam in 1975 and Ukraine under WJC working out? “If you want something done right, it is more likely to be done right if you do it.”
James Lincoln says
All true, Frank.
Thanks for your reply…
gravenimage says
So often true, Frank.
gravenimage says
Iran: Blackout at Natanz nuke facility after explosion, officials confirm Israel’s involvement
……………
Yay, Israel!