Black smoke rose as flames engulfed the Shahid Tondgooyan petrochemical plant in Khuzestan province in Iran late Sunday afternoon.
Hours earlier, more than 500 miles away, detonations rocked the basement of an indescribable old house in a northern pocket of Tehran. The two-story home was said to contain at least 30 gas cylinders that were used for unclear purposes.
Both incidents occurred less than two days after a series of explosions, and power outages, were reported in western Tehran in the early hours of Friday. Local reports indicated multiple “mortar sounds similar to anti-aircraft missiles” were heard.
The explosions reportedly took place in a missile depot of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
IRAN BLAMES JETLINER OF UKRAINE TRIGGERED IN MY COMMUNICATION, MISLINED MISSILE BATTERY
While some Iranian officials completely denied the outbursts, and others cited a former mayor, who reportedly died more than a year ago, said it was caused by gas tanks, experts said something strange is at stake. in the harassed country.
These most recent attacks occurred immediately after multiple mysterious explosions at sensitive sites over the past three weeks, and no one is exactly sure what is going on, other than shaking up the regime and hindering its controversial nuclear program.
“The pace and tenor of recent explosions in Iran have been unusual. There is evidence of an ongoing concerted campaign to thwart Iran’s nuclear program,” Jason Brodsky, Policy Director of United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) told Fox News ). “The more Iran advances its nuclear program in violation of the Joint Comprehensive Action Plan (JCPOA), the greater the likelihood of additional attacks.”
He continued: “In addition, Tehran is distracted by the coronavirus and economic problems. The public is increasingly disenchanted with the regime’s ability to rule the country. Conditions are conducive to further kinetic activity.”
UN ACCUSES TRUMPET OF BREAKING THE INTERNATIONAL LAW IN THE SOLEIMANI SLAUGHTER
The first enigmatic blow occurred on June 26 at a well-known liquid fuel production center that makes ballistic missiles in Khojir, near Parchin, southeast of the capital. Although officials downplayed it, satellite imagery later showed extensive damage to an arsenal of gas tanks, along with an entire hill blackened by the blast.
This Friday, June 26, 2020, the combination of photos from the European Commission Sentinel-2 satellite shows the place of an explosion, before, left and after, right, that shook the capital of Iran. Analysts say the blast came from an area in the eastern mountains of Tehran that hides a system of underground tunnels and missile production sites. The explosion appears to have charred hundreds of meters of scrub. (European Commission via AP)
Then on June 30, 19 people died after an explosion at a medical center in Tehran.
Two days later, on July 2, Natanz’s notorious uranium enrichment plant, which began operating in 2018 as Iran’s main site for developing centrifuges needed to produce uranium and other nuclear weapons, was under development, was impacted by a gigantic explosion, as confirmed by the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization (AEOI).
Tehran admitted that a severe attack had affected an “industrial shed,” and AEOI officials acknowledged to the Iranian media that the coup “had delayed Iran’s nuclear program by months.”
IRAN NUCLEAR FIRE HIT SITE CENTRIFUGE INSTALLATION, ANALYSTS SAY
According to an analysis by the Kuwait-based publication Al-Jarida, the target of the assault was UF6 gas, uranium hexafluoride, which Iran uses to infuse into its most advanced IR-6 centrifuges, of which 80 percent have been decimated as a result of the attack.
Then, on July 3, an unexplained fire broke out at a power plant in the city of Shiraz, in the southwest, causing a power outage in the region.
The next day, another explosion and hell tore apart a power plant in Ahwaz, while at the same time, a chlorine gas leak was detected at a Karoun petrochemical plant in Mahshahr, about 75 miles away.
“While one can never ignore the possibility of an accident or serious incompetence, the location of these explosions, along with the increasing number of things that have exploded in recent weeks, is a good argument for this to be foreign sabotage.” stressed Behnam Ben Taleblu, senior member of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD). “Let’s not forget that they all occur in or near nuclear, missile or military installations.”
However, a whirlwind of suspicion continues to linger around the seemingly harmonized series of attacks, and many suspect that Israel, and the United States, are pulling the strings.
But adding to the quirk, BBC Persian reported that, just after midnight on June 30, some of its journalists received an email from a group that were allegedly the “Cheetahs of the Fatherland,” composed of clandestine anti-government dissidents, claiming credit for previous attacks. . The outlet also said they were informed of the Natanz attack hours before officials documented it.
The new flagpoles in Iran are raising fears that the Islamic regime is using them to hide satellite interference technology that can block communication over the Internet, television and telephone.
(Hassan A. Khosravi)
Several intelligence sources told Fox News that they had never heard of the outfit before the BBC report, and they suspected it was a ruse or front for a much more sophisticated operation.
THE RISE AND FALL OF THE FIRST LADY OF SYRIA: WHY WILL THE US BE AFTER ASTHMA ASSAD?
While almost all experts conclude that the attacks that have occurred are physical, some say that cyber warfare may also play an important role, especially given that Natanz was targeted by the infamous Stuxnet malware caused by Israel and the US in 2010. That successful attack paralyzed the controls at The Site altered the spin cycles of the centrifuges and left the scientists scratching their heads.
“Although many ask the question, whether it is a cyber attack or physical sabotage, the answer could be ‘both.’ The most likely suspects are the United States and Israel working together. Both countries have very sophisticated cyber warfare units and significant capabilities when it comes to cyber attacks, “explained David Kennedy, CEO of TrustedSec and a former cyber from the NSA and the Marine Corps. intelligence expert “An attack of this magnitude would require a great deal of planning and preparation, and it is very complex because it is exploiting industrial control systems and devices with air gaps.”
In this photo published by the official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, delivers his sermon in Friday prayers at the Imam Khomeini Grand Mosque in Tehran, Iran, on Friday, January 17. 2020. The supreme leader of Iran. He said President Donald Trump is a “clown” who only claims to support the Iranian people but who “will push a poisonous dagger” behind him, as he gave a challenging tone in his first sermon on Friday in Tehran in eight years. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)
Jeff Bardin, CIO of security firm Treadstone 71, agreed that his assessment “indicates that this was a physical attack, likely with the use of cybernetics for reconnaissance and support.”
“The explosion went far beyond what cyber sabotage is believed to have created,” he said. “If Iran complains too strongly that adversaries destroyed its nuclear weapons development, the IAEA and the world will want a local inspection. Iran has claimed that they are not creating nuclear weapons. If they complain too loudly, we can confirm those locations for the development of nuclear weapons. ” If the Iranian authorities affirm that adverse actions took place, internally, they look weak, where they already suffer from a lack of confidence. If they respond openly, they risk more attacks. “
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Experts have also pointed to the dazzling holes in Tehran’s intelligence apparatus, essentially allowing its country’s most protected sites to be euthanized with conventional weapons, with little means to thwart or counter-attack it.
“Tehran has yet to retaliate over the Natanz blast. (But) I would expect to see a pickup in Iranian cyber operations against the US, Israel, and our Middle East allies like Saudi Arabia, but I do not expect a serious conflagration.” Kennedy guessed. “The Iranians have suffered a major setback in their nuclear program and their domestic security. They have been very embarrassed. And the truth is, they may not know the full extent of what happened in that attack. They also don’t know what else will come.”
