Iran nuclear facility explodes as tension rises with West

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Iran nuclear facility explodes as tension rises with West

Zimmetro — An Iranian nuclear facility in the province of Isfahan, home to one of Iran's atomic facilities, has been hit by a huge explosion yesterday, the second nuclear facility to be destroyed by such a blast in a month, prompting speculation that sites of Tehran's nuclear program are under sabotage attacks by Western or Israeli spy agencies.

"While it's impossible to confirm, recent events in Iran raise suspicions," said Gala Riani, a Middle East analyst at London-based forecaster IHS Global Insight. It's possible that "foreign powers would want to carry out clandestine activity to sabotage Iran's nuclear and military progress," she said. "Diplomacy doesn't seem to work and military strikes isn't something anyone really wants to carry out."

Another similar explosion occurred in Nov. 12 explosion at a facility west of Tehran which killed at least 30 people. The blast took place as military personnel were transporting munitions and killing General Hassan Tehrani Moqaddam, director of the Revolutionary Guards' Jihad Self-Sufficiency Organization, also known as the "godfather" of Iran's ballistic missile programme.

The explosion at Iran's third-largest city came as satellite images emerged of the damage caused by the first explosion on the facility west of Tehran two weeks ago. The images clearly showed billowing smoke and destruction, despite Iranian denial that such explosion had taken place.

Iran went into frantic denial as news of the explosion emerged. Alireza Zaker-Isfahani, the city's governor, claimed that the blast had been caused by a military exercise in the area but state-owned agencies in Tehran soon removed this story and issued a version of government total denial that any explosion had taken place at all.

A former Israeli intelligence official who spoke in anonymity cited the two explosions have "successfully neutralized" Iranian bases associated with the Shahab-3, the medium-range missile that could be adapted to carry a nuclear warhead. "This is something everyone in the West wanted to see happen," he added.

Mohammad-Mahdi Ismaili, Isfahan's deputy governor in political and security affairs, called the reports "sheer lies". "Maybe somebody's water heater exploded, that's all," he told Mehr news agency. An important Iranian nuclear facility involved in processing uranium is located near Isfahan city, although Iranian media reports of the incident did not refer to it.

Two months ago in September, Iran's nuclear plant in Bushehr was hit and deactivated by Stuxnet, a very complex computer worm, causing havoc and setting back the Iran nuclear programme by several months. The computer virus which was widely suspected to have been programmed by the US and Israel, and tested by Israel in January this year. The Stuxnet worm is capable of seizing control of an entire industrial plant and is the first-known worm designed to target major infrastructure facilities. Israel has one of the most advanced computer programming technologies in the world.

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said in November last year that Iran should know "all options are on the table" to halt its nuclear program. Two weeks ago, Netanyahu called for an international campaign to stop Iran after an International Atomic Energy Agency report suggested that the country had worked on building a nuclear bomb.

Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said of the explosion: "I don't know the extent of the explosion but, it would be desirable if they multiplied."

This month the U.S, U.K. and Canada tightened punitive measures against Iran, adding to four rounds of United Nations Security Council sanctions by targeting the country's oil industry and its central bank. EU foreign ministers are scheduled to meet Dec. 1 to discuss measures against Iran.