Israel’s defense chief said Sunday that his country is not “necessarily” behind all the incidents at Iran’s nuclear facilities, after a site fire last week.
Three Iranian officials told Reuters They thought that the fire at the Natanz underground site was the result of cyber sabotage. Two of those officials said Israel may have been behind the alleged attack.
When Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz was asked if Israel had anything to do with “mysterious explosions,” he reportedly told Israel Radio: “Not all incidents that occur in Iran necessarily have something to do with us. “
“All of those systems are complex, they have very high security restrictions, and I’m not sure they always know how to maintain them,” he said, according to Reuters.
The Natanz site serves as the center of Iran’s uranium enrichment program and is overseen by the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Iran’s state news agency IRNA said Israel and the United States may have engaged in sabotage, but did not directly accuse either nation.
Israel has vowed not to allow Iran to have atomic weapons, saying Tehran would aim to destroy Israel. But Iranian officials deny they are searching for atomic weapons and say their atomic program is peaceful.
The Stuxnet computer virus believed to have been developed by the US and Israel was discovered in 2010 after targeting Natanz, Reuters noted.
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