Iran named a suspect Saturday in the attack on its Natanz nuclear facility that damaged centrifuges there, saying he had fled the country "hours before" the sabotage happened.
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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.
The report also aired what appeared to be an Interpol "red notice" seeking his arrest. The arrest notice was not immediately accessible on Interpol's public-facing database. Interpol, based in Lyon, France, declined to comment.
The TV report said "necessary actions" are underway to bring Karimi back to Iran through legal channels, without elaborating. The supposed Interpol "red notice" listed his foreign travel history as including Ethiopia, Kenya, the Netherlands, Qatar, Romania, Turkey, Uganda and the United Arab Emirates.
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 show authorities acknowledging an explosion struck the Natanz facility.
There was a "limited explosion of a small part of the electricity-feeding path to the centrifuges' hall," the TV report said. "The explosion happened because of the function of explosive materials and there was no cyberattack."
While the extent of the damage from the April 11 sabotage remains unclear, it comes as Iran tries to negotiate with world powers over its tattered nuclear deal.
Already, Iran has begun enriching uranium up to 60% purity in response – three times higher than ever before, though in small quantities. The sabotage and Iran's response to it has also further inflamed tensions across the Mideast, where a shadow war between Tehran and Israel, the prime suspect in the sabotage, still rages.
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.
The report also showed centrifuges in a hall, as well as what appeared to be caution tape at the Natanz facility. In one shot, a TV reporter interviewed an unnamed technician, who was shown from behind – likely a safety measure as Iranian nuclear scientists have been assassinated in suspected Israeli-orchestrated attacks in the past.
"The sound that you are hearing is the sound of operating machines that are fortunately undamaged," he said, the high-pitched whine of the centrifuges heard in the background. "Many 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."
In Vienna, negotiations continued over the deal Saturday with another meeting of diplomats from Iran and the five powers that remain in the deal, with expert-level working groups on sanctions-lifting and nuclear issues set to continue activities through to next week.
Iran's negotiator told state TV that the talks had entered a new phase, adding that Iran had proposed draft agreements that could be a basis for negotiation.
"We think that the talks have reached a stage where parties are able to begin to work on a joint draft," Abbas Araghchi said. "It seems that a new understanding is taking shape, and now there is agreement over final goals."
Enrique Mora, the European Union official who chaired the talks, tweeted that "progress has been made in a far from easy task. We need now more detailed work."
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US President Joe Biden said on Friday that Iran's plan to enrich uranium to 60% was not helpful.
"We do not support and do not think it's at all helpful that Iran is saying it's going to move to enrich to 60%," Biden told reporters in Washington during a joint news conference with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga.
"We are, though, nonetheless pleased that Iran has continued to agree to engage in discussions – indirect discussions – with us and with our partners on how we move forward and what is needed to allow us to move back into the [nuclear deal] ... without us making concessions that we are just not willing to make," Biden added.
