Iran Blames Israel for Nuclear Plant Outage
2021-04-13
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1Iran has accused Israel of carrying out an attack on a nuclear center that damaged equipment and caused a power outage.
2Iranian officials called Sunday's incident at the Natanz nuclear center an act of "nuclear terrorism."
3They said centrifuges were damaged at the plant.
4A centrifuge is a device used to increase the purity of uranium for nuclear purposes.
5Media organizations reported the Israeli government was behind the action, which was described as a cyberattack.
6However, Israel did not claim responsibility for an attack or comment directly on the incident.
7Speaking to reporters Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would continue efforts aimed at preventing Iran from gaining a nuclear weapon.
8He said such a device would give Iran the ability "to carry out its genocidal goal of eliminating Israel."
9He added that Israel "will continue to defend itself against Iran's aggression and terrorism."
10A former chief of Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, General Mohsen Rezaei, said in a message on Twitter that the attack had started a fire.
11Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said the country's answer to the action should be "to take revenge against Israel."
12He did not comment further, but added that Israel "will receive its answer through its own path."
13Khatibzadeh confirmed that centrifuges at the plant had been damaged.
14The incident took place one day after Iran announced it had launched new, advanced centrifuge machines at Natanz.
15Khatibzadeh said only the older centrifuges were damaged.
16Iran's improvements in centrifuge technology are designed to permit the country to process uranium faster.
17Since January, Iran has begun enriching uranium to as high as 20 percent purity, a technical step away from weapons-grade levels.
18The incident came after negotiations began last week in Vienna aiming to bring the United States back into a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.
19The deal -- which the U.S. left in 2018 under President Donald Trump -- restricts Iran's nuclear program in exchange for easing U.S. and international sanctions.
20The U.S. reestablished economic sanctions after withdrawing from the agreement.
21Iran answered by violating some of the terms of the deal.
22In Vienna, officials from the U.S. and Iran were holding indirect talks.
23Also taking part were representatives from countries still in the nuclear deal -- Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia.
24U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin arrived Monday in Israel for talks with Netanyahu and other officials.
25When asked by reporters whether the nuclear discussions might be affected by the incident at the plant Lloyd said, "Those efforts will continue."
26In a statement, the White House said it knew about the Natanz attack and that "the U.S. was not involved in any manner."
27I'm Bryan Lynn.
1Iran has accused Israel of carrying out an attack on a nuclear center that damaged equipment and caused a power outage. 2Iranian officials called Sunday's incident at the Natanz nuclear center an act of "nuclear terrorism." They said centrifuges were damaged at the plant. A centrifuge is a device used to increase the purity of uranium for nuclear purposes. 3Media organizations reported the Israeli government was behind the action, which was described as a cyberattack. However, Israel did not claim responsibility for an attack or comment directly on the incident. 4Speaking to reporters Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would continue efforts aimed at preventing Iran from gaining a nuclear weapon. He said such a device would give Iran the ability "to carry out its genocidal goal of eliminating Israel." He added that Israel "will continue to defend itself against Iran's aggression and terrorism." 5A former chief of Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, General Mohsen Rezaei, said in a message on Twitter that the attack had started a fire. 6Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said the country's answer to the action should be "to take revenge against Israel." He did not comment further, but added that Israel "will receive its answer through its own path." 7Khatibzadeh confirmed that centrifuges at the plant had been damaged. The incident took place one day after Iran announced it had launched new, advanced centrifuge machines at Natanz. Khatibzadeh said only the older centrifuges were damaged. 8Iran's improvements in centrifuge technology are designed to permit the country to process uranium faster. 9Since January, Iran has begun enriching uranium to as high as 20 percent purity, a technical step away from weapons-grade levels. 10The incident came after negotiations began last week in Vienna aiming to bring the United States back into a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran. The deal -- which the U.S. left in 2018 under President Donald Trump -- restricts Iran's nuclear program in exchange for easing U.S. and international sanctions. 11The U.S. reestablished economic sanctions after withdrawing from the agreement. Iran answered by violating some of the terms of the deal. 12In Vienna, officials from the U.S. and Iran were holding indirect talks. Also taking part were representatives from countries still in the nuclear deal -- Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia. 13U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin arrived Monday in Israel for talks with Netanyahu and other officials. When asked by reporters whether the nuclear discussions might be affected by the incident at the plant Lloyd said, "Those efforts will continue." 14In a statement, the White House said it knew about the Natanz attack and that "the U.S. was not involved in any manner." 15I'm Bryan Lynn. 16The Associated Press and Reuters reported on this story. Bryan Lynn adapted the reports for Learning English. Mario Ritter, Jr. was the editor. 17We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page. 18_____________________________________________________ 19Words in This Story 20cyberattack - n. an attempt by attackers to damage or destroy a computer network or system 21eliminate - v. remove or get rid of something 22revenge - n. the act of doing something to hurt someone because that person did something that hurt you 23advanced - adj. having developed or progressed to a late stage 24sanction - n. a restriction, usually limiting trade, that are meant to cause a country to obey international law 25manner -n. way or method that something is done