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Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization confirms explosion at Natanz nuclear facility

The ceiling collapsed in one of the control rooms, according to the AEOI

Natanz nuclear facility EPA-EFE/STR

Natanz nuclear facility

TEHRAN, April 12. /TASS/. Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility was hit by an explosion, Iranian Atomic Energy Organization (AEOI) Spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi said on Monday.

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"What we saw is a power grid issue. The explosion wasn’t powerful enough to destroy everything but the ceiling collapsed in one of the control rooms," the Tasnim news agency quoted him as saying.

According to the official, the incident "caused no casualties and under the situation, Iran will be able to fix the damage in the near future." "We had a similar incident last year, and our experts succeeded in fixing most of the damage in less than eight months," Kamalvandi noted.

Tehran said on Sunday that the Natanz nuclear site had been hit by a power failure. The head of the AEOI, Ali Akbar Salehi described the incident as an act of nuclear terrorism. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, in turn, pointed to Israel’s involvement in the accident. The New York Times wrote that "American and Israeli intelligence officials said there had been an Israeli role."

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