July 06, 2020•Update: July 06, 2020
ANKARA
An Israeli expert has called on his country to prepare for an Israeli response to bombings and fires that have hit a nuclear complex, an electric power station, and a petrochemical center in recent days.
"If Israel is accused by an Iranian official, we must be operationally ready for a possible Iranian response, either cyber, by launching missiles from Syria, or by an attack from outside Israel," Amos Yaldin, the Director of the Israeli Institute for National Security Services, said on Twitter.
On Saturday, an explosion occurred at the Zarkan power plant in the city of Ahvaz in southwestern Iran, according to Iranian official media. A few hours later, a chlorine gas leaked from a petrochemical complex that injured dozens of workers.
On Thursday, a mysterious incident at Iran’s Natanz nuclear plant damaged an “industrial shed”.
“There are some physical and financial damages and we are investigating,” Behrouz Kamalvandi, a spokesman for Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, said.
For his part, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz ruled out the possibility of Israeli involvement in the attacks.
"It is not necessary that every incident inside Iran is linked to us," Gantz said, but he stressed that Israel is “determined to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power”.
On June 26, a major explosion was reported near Parchin military site in northeast Tehran, which officials said was due to “a gas tank explosion.”
A massive explosion damaged a clinic on June 30 in north Tehran’s posh Tajrish locality, killing 19 people.
*Bassel Barakat contributed to this report from Ankara
