TEHRAN, April 17. /TASS/. Iran will go ahead with its nuclear program despite assassinations of nuclear scientists and subversive acts at its nuclear facilities, Chief of Staff of the President of Iran Mahmoud Vaezi said in a Twitter post on Friday.
"Iranian [nuclear] progress cannot be stopped by assassinating of nuclear physicists and damaging nuclear facilities," he wrote. "The start of uranium enrichment to 60% is a clear indication of Iran’s progress and an obvious sign to adversaries."
The incident at the Natanz nuclear site took place April 11. Iran reported that an outage was registered at the site’s power distribution grid, which led to an explosion. There were no victims or environmental damage. The Iranian Atomic Energy Organization head Ali Akbar Salehi called the incident a "display of nuclear terrorism." The New York Times claimed citing its sources that the explosion was organized by Israel. Later, Zarif also claimed that Israel was involved.
Iranian nuclear physicist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who headed a research center under the Iranian Defense Ministry, had been killed in the city of Damavand in the province of Tehran on November 27, 2020. According to Iranian Army’s Commander-in-Chief Sayyed Abdolrahim Mousavi, Israel and the United States were behind the assassination. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani vowed that the murder would not go unanswered.