Iranian state TV reported Monday that the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard arrested members of a "network" working for Israel that planned to sabotage Iran's major underground nuclear facility at Fordo.
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The TV network claimed that the "Zionist regime" has for years been trying to hit Fordo, a top nuclear facility in the country without success. The report did not say how many suspects were arrested, what their nationalities were, or when and where the arrests supposedly took place.
The state news agency IRNA said a new agency called Revolutionary Guards Nuclear Command, which it said had been set up to oversee defense and security matters at nuclear installations, was involved in the operation to stop the planned sabotage.
Iran has recently stopped the International Atomic Energy Agency from accessing its surveillance camera footage and has resumed enrichment of uranium at Fordo as Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers fell apart and talks of returning to the deal paused. Iran however, has said it would keep the surveillance footage and hand it over to the IAEA if and when it is granted sanctions relief.
The TV report said that those arrested approached employees at Fordo's IR-6 section, where it is believed that centrifuges for spinning uranium are developed, paying them in cash or cryptocurrency, and instructing them how to connect with an Israeli agent, who was acting as a manager of a company based in Hong Kong.
Once "cooperation" between an unspecified number of Fordo staffers and the agents began, the entire communication was monitored by the Revolutionary Guard, which provides security at Iran's nuclear facilities.
According to the report, the alleged sabotage was to take place ahead of the Persian New Year, or Nowruz, which begins March 21.
Iranian authorities regularly report claims of dismantling spy and other networks seeking to harm Iran, but seldom offer any evidence.
The TV report came as monthslong negotiations in Vienna aimed at restoring Iran's tattered nuclear deal with world powers went on what their European hosts described as "a pause" after Russia demanded relief from sanctions targeting it over its war on Ukraine. Iran claimed the pause was because of new US demands.
The talks sought to draw a roadmap for how the United States could rejoin the accord it unilaterally withdrew from in 2018, and how Iran would again limit its rapidly advancing nuclear program.
Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian was set to depart for an official visit to Moscow Tuesday to secure guarantees from his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, whose country has been targeted with substantial sanctions since invading Ukraine on Feb. 20.
"There are central issues that remain unresolved, and Washington needs to make decisions on the issue. As soon as they are made, we will return to Vienna to sign the agreement," an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said.
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