Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Iran believes the Zionist entity was behind the recent power outage at the Natanz nuclear facility.
Zarif said the occupation regime had gambled and lost by sabotaging the Natanz nuclear facility, adding that the Natanz attack would strengthen Iran’s position in nuclear talks.
“The Israelis thought the attack will weaken our hand in the Vienna talks but in contrary it will strengthen our position,” he said on Monday.
“I assure you that in near future more advanced uranium enrichment centrifuges will be placed in the Natanz facility,” Zarif said.
In a letter o UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the Iranian Foreign Minister said that deliberate targeting of a safeguarded nuclear facility is “nuclear terrorism and a war crime.”
Zarif said in his letter that the timely and professional containment measures adopted by the highly dedicated management and staff of the NFEP and Iranian Atomic Energy Organization averted what could have become a human and environmental catastrophe.
“The deliberate targeting of a highly sensitive safeguarded nuclear facility—with the high risk of potential release of radioactive material—constitutes reckless criminal nuclear terrorism and a war crime,” Iran’s FM stressed in a tweet.
“Considering the possible indiscriminate human and environmental consequences of this international crime, those who planned, ordered, participated, and carried out this cowardly act committed a grave war crime; one that must not go unpunished. Any power with knowledge of, or acquiescence in, this act must also be held accountable as an accomplice to this war crime,” the top Iranian diplomat added.
On Sunday morning, the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) reported that the Natanz facility had suffered an incident involving its electricity distribution network. AEOI chief Ali Akbar Salehi described the incident as “nuclear terrorism.”
In turn, the Iranian authorities said all damaged centrifuges would be replaced with better ones.
Source: Agencies
