Iran admits fire at Natanz nuclear facility caused 'significant damage'
A fire that broke out at Iran's Natanz nuclear
facility on Thursday has caused significant damage that could slow the
development of advanced centrifuges, an Iranian nuclear official said on
Sunday.
Iran's top security body said on Friday that the
cause of an incident and fire at the site had been determined and would be
announced later. Some Iranian officials have said it may have been caused by
cyber sabotage and one warned that Tehran would retaliate against any country
carrying out such attacks.
"The incident could slow down the development
and production of advanced centrifuges in the medium term ... Iran will replace
the damaged building with a bigger one that has more advanced equipment,"
Iran's state news agency IRNA quoted the spokesman for the country's Atomic
Energy Organisation, Behrouz Kamalvandi, as saying.
"The incident has caused significant damage but
there were no casualties."
Three Iranian officials who spoke to Reuters on
condition of anonymity on Friday said they believed the fire was the result of
a cyber attack but did not cite any evidence.
The Natanz uranium-enrichment site, much of which is
underground, is one of several Iranian facilities monitored by inspectors of
the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN nuclear watchdog.
