Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization Criticizes Website ‘Affiliated with IRGC’
Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization on Wednesday, May 5, strongly criticized the website “Mashriq News,” which is said to be affiliated with the IRGC Intelligence Organization.
Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization stated that Mashriq News in an article that echoes the voice of Israel and “enemies of Islamic Iran,” both knowingly and unknowingly “pours water on the enemy’s mill and adds salt to the wounds inflicted by enemies.”
Mashriq News on April 16 published an article titled “‘Defective Operating System’ of the Atomic Energy Organization and Destructive Grave Errors” criticizing Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, addressing the recent explosions at Iran’s uranium enrichment facilities in Natanz.
Mashriq News cited statements by Alireza Zakani, head of the Majlis Energy Committee, who stated that the July 3 explosion last year at Natanz was the result of “placing explosives by embedding them in a heavy table and bringing it to the Natanz site.”
This media outlet affiliated with IRGC intelligence further wrote that if Alireza Zakani’s statements are correct, “this level of incompetence and lack of judgment truly stretches the boundaries of ‘negligence’ and severely raises suspicions of ‘culpability.'”
In response to this article, Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization stated that it is a “scientific, technical and research organization” and “the responsibility for protecting and safeguarding it also rests with the country’s security institutions including the Ministry of Intelligence, law enforcement forces and other security bodies.”
Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization also stated that all “natural and legal persons, private companies and contractors who intend to cooperate with the organization through employment or project implementation are reviewed by relevant intelligence bodies for a period before starting activities and after obtaining permission through appropriate channels, cooperate with the organization.”
Following sabotage and recent attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities, principalists have strongly criticized the measures taken by Hassan Rouhani’s government regarding Iran’s nuclear program.
These criticisms have intensified coinciding with the approach to a possible agreement to revive the nuclear deal known as the JCPOA in nuclear negotiations in Vienna as well as with Iran’s presidential elections.
In this regard, Fereydoon Abbasi, a principalist representative and head of Iran’s Majlis Energy Committee, stated that over the past 15 years, five “major” explosions have occurred at Natanz nuclear facilities, and besides that, numerous minor incidents have also taken place at these facilities.
According to Fereydoon Abbasi, in the latest explosion at Natanz nuclear facilities that occurred on the morning of April 11 of this year, “the end section of the power distribution network” was targeted and moreover in the “battery house” which had power storage, an “explosion” also occurred to disrupt the power distribution network.
According to a New York Times report, this explosion, which was the result of “Israeli sabotage,” set back Iran’s uranium enrichment program “by at least 9 months.”
Source: Radio Farda
