Nuclear Discussions Continued
In the last post about these diplomatic talks, briefly mentioned was the Natanz blackout. The immediate sources claimed this was caused by a possible cyberattack by Israel.
Since then the nature of the attack is much clearer and it was in fact an explosion on 10 April 2021. This explosion targeted the internal power supply of the enrichment facility and the Nytimes quoted US intelligence sources, which claimed that this explosion set back enrichment efforts 9 months and had Israeli involvement. Further reporting by the Guardian indicates the perpetrator is believed to be Reza Karimi.
This event caused two things to happen.
- Iran increased its enrichment levels to 60% using their IR-6s that are remaining from the blast. The IAEA has verified this among others.
- Diplomatic talks have still continued. There is a possibility of some temporary interim agreement being reached so further negotiation can commence at a later date, source.
So now the question is back to diplomacy and if it can be successful.
Also in other news there were murmurs that Iran and Saudi Arabia have had some diplomatic discussion over their regional differences. Iran has not officially confirmed this, nor has Saudi Arabia to my knowledge.
As always find the helpful but US biased clearinghouse at GlobalSecurity for some English reporting on Iran. It should be noted that among their sources are Radio Free Europe and VOA.