Thursday’s fire at Iran’s Natanz enrichment site, previously claimed by a secretive group called Cheetahs of the Homeland, is now being reported as a cyberattack by Israel. Reports also suggest that a recent explosion at a missile factory was the result of an Israeli airstrike.
As always with Iran and Israel, confirmation is all but impossible to come by. Israel isn’t saying anything officially, and Iran has said they will say what happened at a time of their choosing in the future.
Iran says that they have already determined what happened, however, and are threatening retaliation over the matter. This likely suggests they aren’t taking the Cheetahs as a likely culprit.
But that still raises questions, as the Cheetahs issued an email to the BBC taking credit before the attack was even announced. The group, whoever they are, may have served as a flimsy cover for the cyberattack.
Iran’s threat to retaliate, without publicly blaming Israel, probably means no specific plans are in place. Talk of retaliation in the future is a common way to get around not doing anything near-term.
Reducing the pressure to do something is that the cyberattack did only minor damage, causing a fire in a shed. Iran says no casualties were reported, and there was no risk of radioactive release.
A surface explosion at an underground facility seems minor.
The OFFICIAL STATEMENT said nothing about the response I believe. It simply stated that they have determined the cause of the damage, but for security reasons cannot make it public yet.
Double Fake News…!
Title of the article is well ahead of what is actually known at this time. It is a guess.
Exactly…Mr. Ditz did it again…! That’s because Mr. Ditz believes the Israeli media he is linking four times in the article more than the local news….! If this explosion is caused by a man-made bomb, it is most likely the work of one of IAEA inspectors who is one of US or Israeli moles…!
There is a tendency in general to attribute to Israeli intelligence an aura of mysterious omnipresence. But the reality has not been this stellar. Israeli media is wild with speculation. It is also has been taken as an article of faith that Israel has true security interests in whatever happens in Iran. And because of this truism — US has been obsessed with Iran as a matter if course.
Nobody can predict a direction of Iranian crisis. UN Security Council discussion on US proposal to extend arms sanctions in Iran not getting anywhere — with France and UK not on board, and Russia and China guaranteed to veto it — where is Pompeo going with this?
It is possible that whatever happened is tied to US trying very desperately to win this one.
But why bother — with US out of the Agreement, all US has to do is threaten its allies with punishment — and they will fall in line. As they did already in reprocessing of fuel.
It may be a nothingburger, or it may be serious. Either way — the Iran situation is a continuous set of circus acts — and at some point — the circus needs to get on the road.
Iran ‘Won’t Be Alone’ If U.S. Attacks, Russian Official Says https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2019/06/26/iran-wont-be-alone-if-us-attacks-russian-official-says-a66169