TEHRAN — Behrooz Kamalvandi, spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), has said the elements and reasons behind a recent blast at the Natanz nuclear facility have been identified.

“The elements and reasons behind the act of sabotage at the Natanz facility have been identified, but it’s not possible to give out further information since the issue is under investigation,” Kamalvandi said in an interview on Sunday, according to Tasnim.

He said Iran has been under cyberattacks and has been able to thwart them. 

“We’ve had numerous industrial sabotage acts and we have an exhibition about many cases of sabotage acts that we discovered,” Kamalvandi explained. 

The spokesman added that the Natanz incident was also an act of sabotage, which is being studied by security organizations.

On July 2, Iran announced an incident affected a shed under construction at the Natanz complex, but it caused no casualties and failed to stop the enrichment work at the facility. 

A day later, Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) said the "main cause" of the explosion in the facility has been determined and will be announced at an appropriate time.

SNSC spokesman Keyvan Khosravi said that experts from different sectors started investigating “different hypotheses” about the incident at the site in central Iran immediately after its occurrence, and have determined its main cause.

“Due to some security considerations, the cause and manner of this incident will be announced at a proper time,” he added.

Some reports suggested Tel Aviv’s alleged role, but Israeli officials neither confirmed nor denied the regime’s involvement.

Meanwhile, Iranian officials have said much of the speculation linking the incident to Israel is nothing but bluster which pleased Israeli leaders, warning Tel Aviv of serious consequences if it turned out to be true.

MH/PA