Israel 'hid explosives inside Iranian nuclear equipment' in plot similar to deadly pager bomb attack that devastated Hezbollah
Israel reportedly hid explosives inside Iranian nuclear equipment in a plot similar to the deadly pager bomb attack that devastated Hezbollah.
Javad Zarif, Iran's former foreign minister and chief negotiator of the 2015 nuclear deal, revealed the allegations during a televised interview, claiming Iranian officials discovered the explosives embedded within a centrifuge platform.
'Our friends at the atomic energy organisation had bought a centrifuge platform, and it was discovered that explosives had been embedded inside it,' Mr Zarif stated.
This revelation comes against the backdrop of a series of sabotage attempts on Iran's nuclear facilities over recent years, including high-profile attacks and the assassination of prominent nuclear scientists.
Iran's top nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was killed by machine gun fire, which they blamed on Israel, while travelling on a highway outside Tehran.
Centrifuges, critical to uranium enrichment, are a focal point of international concern due to their potential use in producing nuclear weapons.
Mr Zarif admitted Israel's infiltration had succeeded and blamed international sanctions for Iran's vulnerability.
The former foreign minister Javad Zarif
Javad Zarif said Iranian officials uncovered explosives embedded within a centrifuge platform
Iranian MPs urged the regime to develop nuclear weapons
'These are the harms of sanctions,' he said.
'Instead of being able to order equipment directly from the manufacturer, sanctions force you to rely on multiple intermediaries.
'If the Zionist regime infiltrates even one intermediary, they can do anything and embed anything they want, which is exactly what happened.'
The allegations come as Israel's covert campaign against Iranian-linked groups continues to escalate.
Last year, Mossad, Israel's spy agency, hired Iranian agents to plant bombs at a guesthouse near Tehran to assassinate former Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.
Additionally, a series of sabotage attacks on Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group backed by Tehran, dealt significant blows to Iran's regional allies.
Among these attacks, thousands of handheld pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah militants exploded simultaneously last September, killing at least 42 people.
Hezbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, said more than 4,000 devices were detonated.
Nasrallah told his followers at the time: 'We have received a very hard hit."
Iran announced today it has started up advanced uranium enrichment centrifuges.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei views a model of a nuclear facility, in Tehran, Iran
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Ali Akbar Salehi visit an exhibition of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI)
Nasrallah said the explosions had 'happened in hospitals, pharmacies, markets, shops, houses and in cars,' as well as in the streets.
This was followed by the Israeli airstrike that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, marking a major setback for the Iran-backed group.
Mr Zarif's remarks highlight a challenging moment for Iran's regime, which faces growing instability.
The fall of key ally Bashar al-Assad in Syria, mounting setbacks in its regional campaigns, and the return of Donald Trump to the US presidency have placed Tehran on the defensive.
Israeli operations targeting Iran's nuclear and proxy activities are likely to intensify, adding further strain to a regime already weakened by sanctions and internal unrest.
For now, Iran's nuclear ambitions remain a flashpoint for geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14288925/israel-explosives-iranian-nuclear-equipment-pager-attack-hezbollah.html
He is known for his statements against the US and Israel. In 2020, Zarif defended Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s use of a poster evoking Nazi Germany’s “Final Solution” to destroy Israel.
In the 1990s, Iran expanded its nuclear program, including secretly buying equipment from Pakistan's top nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan. Khan helped create Pakistan's nuclear weapons program and aided North Korea in obtaining the atomic bombs it has today. Khan's designs allowed Iran to build the IR-1 centrifuges that largely power its uranium enrichment.
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