Hit on July 2 with a bomb at its underground Natanz nuclear facility, the once impregnable nuclear facility has shown vulnerability. Iran once claimed that the U.S. could never get to the heart of Iran’s nuclear program because its facilities were in underground bunkers incapable of penetration by Western targets. When 58-year-old former President Barack Obama with his 76-year-old former Secretary of State John Kerry negotiated the July 15, 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action [JCPOA] AKA “the Iranian Nuke Deal,” it was the only way the U.S. could think of slowing down Iran’s nuclear bomb program, something Iran denies. Iran had convinced U.S. nuclear weapons inspectors that it was impossible to stop Iran’s bombing-making facilities because they were in secret locations, deeply fortified underground. Obama and Kerry thought an arms treaty was the only way of slowing Iran’s nuke program.
Recent bombing at Iranian military sites proves that Iran’s armor has been punctured by foreign forces looking, above all else, to stop Iran’s break-out period of around one year to obtain a nuclear weapon. While Iran denies that it’s working on a usable nuclear weapon, U.N. weapons inspectors and U.S. nuclear experts believe Iran is well on its way to an A-bomb. In recent weeks, Iran witnessed an explosion June 26 at a guided-missile fuel facility in Khojir, close to the Parchin, near Tehran, Another fire erupted at power plant near Shiraz, causing a power outage. On June 30 an explosion occurred at a medical facility in Tehran, killing19 people. Then on July 2 a blast and fire hit Natanz, an underground nuclear facility containing Iran’s most advanced uranium enrichment centrifuges. On July 4, another explosion and fire at a power plan in Alwaz, gas leak at Karom petrochemical plant in Mahsihahr.
Iranian officials, without proof they’re willing to share, point fingers at Israel, whose Mossad security service is capable of sabotaging any number of Iranian facilities. Israel considers Iran its mortal enemy, with Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameinei threatening to annihilate Israel May 22, calling Israel a “cancerous tumor” at an al-Qud’s Day celebration. Iran has waged a proxy war against Israel, supplying arms-and-cash to Palestinian Hamas terrorists in Gaza and Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon. Iran complains about its failing economy, ravaged by coronavirus AKA SARS CoV-2 or Covid-19, U.S. sanctions blocking petroleum sales and a devaluated rial currency. Yet Iran has enough resources to supply Hamas and Hezbollah, and Yemen’s Houthi rebels to wage proxy war against Saudi Arabia. When 74-year-old President Donald Trump cancelled the JCPOA May 8, 2018, everyone asked why?
Iran has denied to its citizens that it’s nuclear infrastructure has been hit by a foreign enemy, embarrassed that it’s vaunted security has been penetrated either by the United States or Israel or a combination of the two. When asked July 10 whether Israel was behind the mysterious incidents around Iran, Israel remained coy, “our action in Iran [are] better left unsaid.” Khamenei said he wasn’t prepared to announce who’s responsible for the July 2 blast at Natanz that interfered with Iran’s advanced underground nuclear enrichment facilities. Israel hasn’t owned the attack on Natanz but hasn’t denied it either. If Iran concludes Israel was responsible for the blast at Natanz, Ayatollah will respond in kind. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, recently installed in a coalition government, has little patience for Iran, whose recent rhetoric threatens to eradicate the Jewish State.
Not all the recent incidents could possibly be linked to Israel. Oods governor Leila Vaseghi told Iran’s semiofficial IRNA news agency that a short power outage was due to a hospital in the area, not sabotage by a foreign actor. A Qods parliament members said the power outage was due to routine maintenance by a local power company. Social media messaged from Garmadareh said they heard an “explosion at a factory making gas cylinders,” ruling out sabotage by the U.S. or Israel. Whatever miscellaneous mishaps took place, Iranian authorities believe that only the Natanz explosion had Israel’s fingerprints on it. Israel and the U.S. have been concerned about Iran’s advanced nuclear enrichment activities, closing the window on Iran’s break out time to a nuclear device. Whatever Iran’s denials, Western nuclear experts express concerns about Iran’s advanced centrifuge activity.
Getting to Natanz’s underground advance uranium centrifuge facility is a real worry to Iran’s Ayatollah Khamenei. Once thought invulnerable to Western attacks, the July 2 attack set Iran’s advance centrifuge program back months, if not years. Obama was so concerned about Natanz uranium enrichment facilities he was willing to do almost anything to get Iran to agree to suspend enrichment activity. Trump and his 56-year-old Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have been warning about Iran’s feverish pursuit of nuclear weapons despite all the denials. Closely coordinated with Israel, Trump vowed that he would not allow Iran to pursue an A-bomb, applying “maximum pressure,” especially hitting Iran’s economy as a way to get Iran back to the peace table. So far, Ayatollah has been content to fund proxy wars against Israel and Saudi Arabia to challenge U.S. influence in the Middle East.
