Iran foils attack at nuclear, vaccine facilities
Published: 04:06 PM,Jun 23,2021 | EDITED : 12:06 AM,Jun 24,2021
Tehran: Iran foiled a sabotage attack on Wednesday on a building belonging to the country’s atomic energy agency, state television said, adding there were no casualties or damage.
There were also unconfirmed reports of a drone attack on a facility producing Barekat, an Iranian-designed coronavirus vaccine. Testing is expected to begin soon.
“On Wednesday morning, a sabotage operation against one of the (Atomic Energy Organization of Iran) buildings was foiled” and the attack “did not cause any damage in financial or human terms,” the broadcaster said.
“The saboteurs failed to carry out their plan,” it added, without giving further details on the building or the nature of the attack that had been averted.
The incident comes as Tehran and world powers attempt to revive a hobbled 2015 agreement on Iran’s nuclear programme in Vienna talks.
That agreement is staunchly opposed by arch-foe Israel, which Iran accused of being behind a “small explosion” that hit its Natanz uranium enrichment plant in April.
Israel neither confirmed nor denied involvement in the blast, but public radio said it was a sabotage operation by the Mossad spy agency, citing unnamed intelligence sources.
The New York Times, quoting unnamed US and Israeli intelligence officials, said there had been “an Israeli role” in the attack.
At the time, the Iranian foreign ministry accused Israel of an act of “nuclear terrorism” aimed at scuttling the Vienna nuclear talks and vowed revenge.
— Agencies
There were also unconfirmed reports of a drone attack on a facility producing Barekat, an Iranian-designed coronavirus vaccine. Testing is expected to begin soon.
“On Wednesday morning, a sabotage operation against one of the (Atomic Energy Organization of Iran) buildings was foiled” and the attack “did not cause any damage in financial or human terms,” the broadcaster said.
“The saboteurs failed to carry out their plan,” it added, without giving further details on the building or the nature of the attack that had been averted.
The incident comes as Tehran and world powers attempt to revive a hobbled 2015 agreement on Iran’s nuclear programme in Vienna talks.
That agreement is staunchly opposed by arch-foe Israel, which Iran accused of being behind a “small explosion” that hit its Natanz uranium enrichment plant in April.
Israel neither confirmed nor denied involvement in the blast, but public radio said it was a sabotage operation by the Mossad spy agency, citing unnamed intelligence sources.
The New York Times, quoting unnamed US and Israeli intelligence officials, said there had been “an Israeli role” in the attack.
At the time, the Iranian foreign ministry accused Israel of an act of “nuclear terrorism” aimed at scuttling the Vienna nuclear talks and vowed revenge.
— Agencies