Israel's foreign intelligence service, the Mossad, recruited several Iranian nuclear scientists to carry out a covert operation in Iran earlier this year, during which one of the ayatollah regime's most secure nuclear facilities was blown up, the British weekly The Jewish Chronicle reported Thursday.
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According to the report, Israeli agents approached up to 10 Iranian scientists who agreed to destroy uranium-enrichment centrifuges at the Natanz nuclear facility in April, although they reportedly believed they were working for international dissident groups.
Scientists allegedly smuggled some of the explosives into the facility in boxes of food on a catering lorry, while others were dropped into the compound by a drone, after which they were collected.
According to The Jewish Chronicle, Mossad spies had hidden explosives in the high-security facility as early as 2019 and only triggered them in 2020.
The explosion reportedly caused chaos in the facility and led to a power blackout, destroying 90% of the centrifuges and delaying Iran's progress towards a bomb and delaying work at the complex for up to nine months.
After the blast, the Iranian researchers were taken to a safe location, and "all of them are very safe today," one source said.
The paper further alleged that Israel was responsible for the June assault on the Iran Centrifuge Technology Company in Karaj, during which agents smuggled an armed quadcopter into the country piece by piece and used it to launch missiles at the site.
According to the report, the operations were planned over an 18-month period by a team of 1,000 technicians, analysts, spies, and agents on the ground.
In a different article, The Jewish Chronicle claimed that Israel was planning a "full-on assault on Iran's nuclear facilities." The paper supposedly received information from Israeli sources, who said the operation was meant to "target the head of the octopus."
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