Last week, Israel said it had successfully launched a new spy satellite into space, with its leaders suggesting that Iran was behind a massive fire at the nuclear site - possibly a long-running secret war.
If Israel is responsible for the firing at the heavily fortified Natanz facility, it will be another sign of a series of fierce strikes against Iran's nuclear program, which Israel is responsible for, and which retaliates against Israel or Western targets.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has hailed the launch of the 16th new satellite, the latest in a fleet deployed in the last two decades.
"The success of the 16 satellites will greatly increase the ability of Israel's enemies to work in, near and far," he told his cabinet. It expands our ability to work on the ground, in the air and in the air. Place. "
Netanyahu made no mention of Iran or last week's fire. But the Islamic Republic is Israel's top security concern and the target of its satellite intelligence gathering efforts.
After playing out of last Thursday's fire, Iranian officials at the weekend confirmed that the explosion was far more powerful than initially suggested, and advanced centrifuges were damaged at the top-secret facility. Iran's nuclear company said the loss of centrifuges used to enrich uranium for civilian and military purposes could delay research and development in the "medium-term".
A new satellite photo released Monday by Planet Labs Inc. showed widespread damage to the centrifuge facility. The picture taken on Sunday shows that the roof was completely collapsed with the explosion and that the debris was scattered on the ground.
Iran is not directly accused of setting fire to Israel or anyone else.
Israel, which has accused Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons, has neither confirmed nor condemned its involvement in the fire. But a growing pile of evidence is pointing to Israel - one of the few countries with the motivation and ability to pull it off.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi said Sunday that Israel's long-term strategy is to prevent Iran from gaining the ability to build nuclear weapons. He made no mention of the Nitzan incident, but stated that Israel would "take good measures to listen."
The group, known as the "Leopard of Homeland", was responsible for the fire. Iran's experts have never heard of the group, and Iranian opposition groups have denied involvement, raising questions about foreign involvement. The group said their members were unhappy with Iran's security services, calling it a "Kashan" for the Jewish community of old, rather than the modern name of Natazan.
Israel and the US are believed to have created a "Stuxnet" computer virus that attacked Iran's nuclear program a decade ago. At the time, Ashkenazi was Israeli military chief.
Recently, Israel called for the gathering of thousands of documents confiscated by Mossad agents from a warehouse in Tehran in 2018. Iran claims that Iran has developed nuclear weapons and that international efforts are hiding his efforts. Community. Earlier this year, Iran was suspected of destabilizing an Iranian port in an Israeli hacking attack in response to an Iranian cyber-attack targeting Israel's water supply.
Analysts believe the explosion of the Natzn fire east of Tehran concealed an underground tunnel and missile production site.
Iran has long maintained that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only. The International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN's nuclear watchdog, said Iran is enriching uranium with 4.5% purity - less than the weapons-grade, but more so than the 2015 US-led international nuclear deal. According to the IAEA, workers also performed tests on advanced centrifuges. Iran said it was a response to President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the US deal and implement painful economic sanctions.
Joel Guzanski, a senior fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies and a former expert on Israel's National Security Council, said it was difficult to know whether Israel was directly involved in the fire or whether it was in contact with Western or Arab allies. He said that everything that is happening in Iran is not a cyber attack or vandalism.
"Some of the things that happened in Iran last week were no coincidence," he said.
There could be a number of targets for firefighters to slow down Iran's nuclear program. They also wanted to send a message to Iran that there was a cost to pursuing nuclear research. There may be pressure to pull Iran back for talks. Some international players dream of changing the regime.
“Not everything is related to Israel, but I think Israel should be very concerned about Iran moving forward,” Guzanski said.
In view of the lengthy preparations involved in Monday's satellite launch, it did not appear to be directly linked to Natanz's developments.
Beyond the nuclear program, Iran is concerned about the development of long-range missiles, its support for hostile militant groups, and Iran's continued military presence in Syria. Israel believes that Iran is trying to help the Lebanese terrorist organization Hezbollah to develop a guided-missile program.
Israel has not confirmed the number of its operational satellites, but Amon Harari, head of the Ministry of Defense's Aerospace and Satellite Administration, has said at least two other things: the launch of 5 weeks in 2002 and the launch of OPEC in 2016. 11.
He told reporters that foreign threats require "continuous surveillance." "If you have more than one satellites parallel to the sky, you'll have a good travel time on interest targets."
Israel Fish caught fire last week in the wake of the Iran financial crisis and the coronavirus crisis, said Alex Fishman, a defense fish analyst at Yediot Aharonot.
"Someone has decided that the window of opportunity is open, that Iran is in crisis, and now is the time to strike where possible."
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