Reuters- An incident at Iran's Natanz nuclear facility on Sunday (April 11) was caused by an act of "nuclear terrorism," the country's nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi said, according to state TV, adding that Tehran reserves the right to take action against the perpetrators.
Earlier on Sunday, the spokesman for Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation (AEOI) had said that a problem with the electrical distribution grid of the Natanz site had caused an incident, Iranian media reported.
The spokesman, Behrouz Kamalvandi, said the incident caused no casualties or contamination.
The facility, located in the desert in the central province of Isfahan, is the centrepiece of Iran's uranium enrichment program and is monitored by inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog.
"While condemning this despicable move, Iran emphasizes the need for the international community and the International Atomic Energy Agency to deal with this nuclear terrorism and reserves the right to take action against the perpetrators," Salehi said. He did not elaborate.
The incident at the Natanz facility comes amid efforts by Tehran and Washington to revive Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with major powers after former U.S. President Donald Trump abandoned it three years ago. Trump reimposed sanctions that had been lifted on the Islamic Republic under the deal and brought in many more.
In reaction to the U.S. sanctions, Iran has gradually breached many restrictions imposed by the accord. The two nations laid out tough stances at indirect talks in Vienna last week on how to bring both back into full compliance with the deal.
While Israeli public radio quoted unidentified intelligence sources on Sunday (April 11) as saying that Israel's Mossad spy agency carried out a cyber attack against Iran's Natanz nuclear facility, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not refer to the incident but spoke about "the fight against Iran's nuclearisation".
At a ceremony on Sunday with Israeli military and intelligence chiefs marking the 73rd anniversary next week of Israel's founding, he made no direct reference to Natanz.
But he said: "The fight against Iran's nuclearisation ... is a massive task".
