Messages deepen Iran fire mystery

Claims of responsibility, Tehran’s response raise questions

Centrifuges are shown last year at the Natanz uranium enrichment facility in central Iran.
(AP/Atomic Energy Organization of Iran)
Centrifuges are shown last year at the Natanz uranium enrichment facility in central Iran. (AP/Atomic Energy Organization of Iran)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- An online video and messages purportedly claiming responsibility for a fire that analysts say damaged a centrifuge assembly plant at Iran's underground Natanz nuclear site deepened the mystery Friday around the incident -- even as Tehran insisted it knew the cause but would not make it public due to "security reasons."

The multiple, different claims by a self-described group called the "Cheetahs of the Homeland" included language used by several exiled Iranian opposition organizations. They also focused almost entirely on Iran's nuclear program, viewed by Israel as a danger to its very existence.

The disparate messages, as well as the fact that Iran experts have never heard of the group before, raised questions about whether Natanz again had faced sabotage by a foreign nation as it had during the Stuxnet computer virus outbreak believed to have been engineered by the U.S. and Israel. Tehran's reaction so far shows Iranian officials are increasingly taking the possibility seriously.

"If it is proven that our country has been attacked by cyberattacks, we will respond," warned Gen. Gholam Reza Jalali, the head of Iran's military unit in charge of combating sabotage, according to a report late Thursday by the Mizan news agency.

Iranian officials have sought to downplay the fire, which broke out early Thursday, calling it only an "incident" that affected an "industrial shed." However, a released photo and video of the site broadcast by Iranian state television showed a two-story brick building with scorch marks and its roof apparently destroyed. Debris on the ground and a door that looked blown off its hinges suggested an explosion accompanied the blaze.

Two U.S.-based analysts who spoke to The Associated Press, relying on released pictures and satellite images, identified the affected building as Natanz's new Iran Centrifuge Assembly Center. A satellite image on Friday by Planet Labs Inc., annotated by experts at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at Middlebury Institute of International Studies, shows what appears to be damage to half of the building.

Iranian nuclear officials did not respond to a request for comment from the AP on the analysts' findings. However, the semiofficial Tasnim news agency quoted the spokesman of Iran's Supreme National Security Council as saying authorities know the cause of the fire.

"Due to some security considerations, the cause and manner of the accident will be announced at the appropriate time," Keyvan Khosravi reportedly said on Friday, without elaborating.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said none of its inspectors were at Natanz at the time of the fire and "that the location where the incident occurred does not contain nuclear materials."

Before news of the fire became public Thursday, the BBC's Persian service says its journalists received emails from "Cheetahs of the Homeland" claiming an attack at Natanz.

A video claimed the group included "soldiers from the heart of regime's security organizations" who wanted to stop Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. Iran long has maintained its atomic program is for peaceful purposes. However, the International Atomic Energy Agency has said that Iran "carried out activities relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device" in a "structured program" through the end of 2003.

The video and one written statement also referred to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as "zahhak," a monster in Persian folklore. But the tone across the messages clashed, with one using terminology often associated with Iran's Mujahedeen-e-Khalq exile group, or MEK, and the video seemingly showing Iran's Shiite theocracy as worse than the rule of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

The MEK group said it was not responsible for the fire. Its statement described the blaze as a "reaction to the nuclear project of the religious fascism ruling Iran, which has afflicted the Iranian people [with] only poverty, repression, terrorism and war."

The office of the shah's exiled son, Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, said he "does not have any contact with this group" that claimed the fire. The AP received no response to an email sent to one address associated with the "Cheetahs of the Homeland" statements.

The purported group's name, "the Cheetahs of the Homeland," also struck some as odd, given that "cheetahs" is a nickname for Iran's national football club.

Suspicion over the incident immediately fell on Israel, including in a commentary published by Iran's state-run IRNA news agency Thursday.

The video called it the Kashan nuclear site, rather than Natanz. Kashan is a nearby city once home to a large, historic Jewish community. Iranians uniformly call the nuclear site Natanz.

Information for this article was contributed by Joseph Krauss and Frank Jordans of The Associated Press.

This photo released Thursday, July 2, 2020, by the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, shows a building after it was damaged by a fire, at the Natanz uranium enrichment facility some 200 miles (322 kilometers) south of the capital Tehran, Iran. A fire burned the building above Iran's underground Natanz nuclear enrichment facility, though officials say it did not affect its centrifuge operation or cause any release of radiation. The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran sought to downplay the fire Thursday, calling it an "incident" that only affected an "industrial shed." (Atomic Energy Organization of Iran via AP)
This photo released Thursday, July 2, 2020, by the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, shows a building after it was damaged by a fire, at the Natanz uranium enrichment facility some 200 miles (322 kilometers) south of the capital Tehran, Iran. A fire burned the building above Iran's underground Natanz nuclear enrichment facility, though officials say it did not affect its centrifuge operation or cause any release of radiation. The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran sought to downplay the fire Thursday, calling it an "incident" that only affected an "industrial shed." (Atomic Energy Organization of Iran via AP)
This Friday, July 3, 2020 satellite image from Planet Labs Inc. that has been annotated by experts at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at Middlebury Institute of International Studies shows a damaged building after a fire and explosion at Iran's Natanz nuclear site. An online video and messages purportedly claiming responsibility for a fire that analysts say damaged a centrifuge assembly plant at Iran's underground Natanz nuclear site deepened the mystery Friday around the incident — even as Tehran insisted it knew the cause but would not make it public due to "security reasons." (Planet Labs Inc., James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at Middlebury Institute of International Studies via AP)
This Friday, July 3, 2020 satellite image from Planet Labs Inc. that has been annotated by experts at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at Middlebury Institute of International Studies shows a damaged building after a fire and explosion at Iran's Natanz nuclear site. An online video and messages purportedly claiming responsibility for a fire that analysts say damaged a centrifuge assembly plant at Iran's underground Natanz nuclear site deepened the mystery Friday around the incident — even as Tehran insisted it knew the cause but would not make it public due to "security reasons." (Planet Labs Inc., James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at Middlebury Institute of International Studies via AP)

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