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In this image made from April 17, 2021, video released by the Islamic Republic Iran Broadcasting, IRIB, state-run TV, various centrifuge machines line the hall damaged on Sunday, April 11, 2021, at the Natanz Uranium Enrichment Facility, some 200 miles (322 km) south of the capital Tehran, Iran. Iran named a suspect Saturday in the attack on its Natanz nuclear facility that damaged centrifuges there, as Reza Karimi and said he had fled the country “hours before” the sabotage happened. (IRIB via AP, File)<\/p><\/div>\n
By NASSER KARIMI
\nAP<\/p>\n
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) \u2014 Iran named a suspect Saturday in the attack on its Natanz nuclear facility that damaged centrifuges there, saying he had fled the country \u201chours before\u201d the sabotage happened.<\/p>\n
While the extent of the damage from the April 11 sabotage remains unclear, it comes as Iran tries to negotiate with world powers over allowing the U.S. to re-enter its tattered nuclear deal with world powers and lift the economic sanctions it faces.<\/p>\n
Already, Iran has begun enriching uranium up to 60% purity in response \u2014 three times higher than ever before, though in small quantities. The sabotage and Iran\u2019s response to it also have further inflamed tensions across the Mideast, where a shadow war between Tehran and Israel, the prime suspect in the sabotage, still rages.<\/p>\n
State television named the suspect as 43-year-old Reza Karimi. It showed a passport-style photograph of a man it identified as Karimi, saying he was born in the nearby city of Kashan, Iran.<\/p>\n
The report also aired what appeared to be an Interpol \u201cred notice\u201d seeking his arrest. The arrest notice was not immediately accessible on Interpol\u2019s public-facing database. Interpol, based in Lyon, France, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n
The TV report said \u201cnecessary actions\u201d are underway to bring Karimi back to Iran through legal channels, without elaborating. The supposed Interpol \u201cred notice\u201d listed his foreign travel history as including Ethiopia, Kenya, the Netherlands, Qatar, Romania, Turkey, Uganda and the United Arab Emirates.<\/p>\n
The report did not elaborate how Karimi would have gotten access to one of the most secure facilities in the Islamic Republic. However, it did for the first time offer authorities acknowledging an explosion struck the Natanz facility.<\/p>\n
There was a \u201climited explosion of a small part of the electricity-feeding path to the centrifuges\u2019 hall,\u201d the TV report said. \u201cThe explosion happened because of the function of explosive materials and there was no cyberattack.\u201d<\/p>\n
Initial reports in Israeli media, which maintain close relations to its military and intelligence services, blamed a cyberattack for the damage.<\/p>\n
The Iranian state TV report also said there were images that corroborated the account of an explosion rather than cyberattack offered by security services, but it did not broadcast those pictures.<\/p>\n
The report also showed centrifuges in a hall, as well as what appeared to be caution tape up at the Natanz facility. In one shot, a TV reporter interviewed an unnamed technician, who was shown from behind \u2014 likely a safety measure as Iranian nuclear scientists have been assassinated in suspected Israeli-orchestrated attacks in the past.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe sound that you are hearing is the sound of operating machines that are fortunately undamaged,\u201d he said, the high-pitched whine of the centrifuges heard in the background. \u201cMany of the centrifuge chains that faced defects are now under control. Part of the work that had been disrupted will be back on track with the round-the-clock efforts of my colleagues.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Vienna, negotiations continued over the deal Saturday. The 2015 accord, which former President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the U.S. from in 2018, prevented Iran from stockpiling enough high-enriched uranium to be able to pursue a nuclear weapon if it chose in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.<\/p>\n
Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful, though the West and the IAEA say Tehran had an organized military nuclear program up until the end of 2003. An annual U.S. intelligence report released Tuesday maintained the longtime American assessment that Iran isn\u2019t currently trying to build a nuclear bomb.<\/p>\n
Iran previously had said it could use uranium enriched up to 60% for nuclear-powered ships. However, the Islamic Republic currently has no such ships in its navy.<\/p>\n
The attack at Natanz was initially described only as a blackout in its electrical grid \u2014 but later Iranian officials began calling it an attack.<\/p>\n
One Iranian official referred to \u201cseveral thousand centrifuges damaged and destroyed\u201d in a state TV interview. However, no other official has offered that figure and no images of the aftermath have been released.<\/p>\n
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\nAssociated Press writer Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.<\/p>\n