The Dance complex was closed the day after Iran announced it would further accelerate uranium enrichment with advanced systems.
An ‘incident’ left the Iranian underground nuclear complex Natans without electricity on Sunday. As a result, advanced centrifuges were discontinued. A spokesman for the Iranian Civil Atomic Energy Agency said in a statement that the “power outage” had affected the complex and that no damage had been done. Later that day, the head of the nuclear program spoke of an “act of terrorism.”
Interestingly, uranium enrichment on the campus has now been halted, with Iran announcing on Saturday that it will conduct tests with new, faster centrifuges. Despite renewed talks with the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Russia and China on the possibility of renewing the so-called Iran deal on nuclear program restrictions, the country’s regime is planning the move. Tehran did not name a suspect, but said it had the right to retaliate.
New obstacles
The international agreement to block the Iranian nuclear arsenal ended in 2015, but under former President Donald Trump, the United States unilaterally withdrew from the 2018 agreement. Trump also reintroduced sanctions against Iran. Iran denies violating the agreements, but has since repeatedly announced actions against the spirit and content of the agreements. New US President Joe Biden has promised to rejoin the nuclear deal with Iran, and there will be ‘indirect talks’ between those countries.
Natance is now immobile, with many analysts quoted by the AP calling the situation suspicious. The campus is often the target of vandalism. A fire broke out on the premises in July. In 2010, a computer virus caused a severe malfunction in Stuxnet Natance’s systems. The International Atomic Energy Agency told international news agencies on Sunday that it was “aware” of reports of the crash, but would not comment further.
