Iran stated that members of a network working for Israel had been arrested that planned to sabotage the “Fordo” facility during the Persian New Year holiday “Nowrouz”, March 21.
The establishment of the “Command for the Protection and Security of Nuclear Centers” was assigned to the Intelligence Organization of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.
According to the Iranian “Rajannews” website, the recently established “Nuclear Corps Command” or “Nuclear Guard” was mentioned for the first time during a report on the discovery of a network aimed at sabotaging nuclear landing facilities.
According to the Iranian media, officers in the Israeli Mossad tried to gain access to the “IR6” centrifuges at the Fordow facility.
Centrifuges are the most important symbol of Iran’s nuclear program, and “Fordo” is the most secret and important nuclear site over which the Revolutionary Guards wanted to prove their control.
A statement by the Revolutionary Guards stated that the arrest of the network was carried out “in cooperation with the counterintelligence command of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ intelligence apparatus.”
The internal protection of nuclear facilities was the responsibility of the Atomic Energy Organization and the external protection of the Civil Defense Organization.
According to the Iranian media, the Supreme National Security Council is responsible for “determining the degrees of privacy and protection for nuclear facilities,” and since 1990, after the cyber attack using the “Stuxnet” virus on nuclear facilities, changes were made and the Atomic Energy Organization and the “Basij” ( paramilitary organization) to play a more active role.
But the 2021 bombing at the Natanz facility showed the failure of intelligence and the Civil Defense Organization to protect, and the head of the Civil Defense Organization, Brigadier-General Ghulam Reza Jalali, announced that the formation of the “Command of the Nuclear Defense and Security Unit” had been approved.
Jalali described the Fordow facility as “a stronghold in the nuclear field” and “highly fortified and secure,” saying that with the formation of a single command, “previous weaknesses will be completely removed.”
The security of nuclear facilities is part of the struggle between the Ministry of Intelligence and the Revolutionary Guards over protecting the nuclear program.
series of failures
Nuclear facilities have seen dozens of explosions, fires and cyber attacks in more than a decade, and Iran has long held Israel responsible.
The People’s Mojahedin Organization (the opposition abroad) provided examples of what it considers security flaws, including the theft of a laptop containing military dimensions to the nuclear program in 2005, the disclosure of Fordow underground facilities in 2009, the Stuxnet virus that targeted the nuclear program in 2010, and the assassination of associated figures. In the program, the theft of a nuclear archive that includes 55 thousand documents and dozens of CDs, the bombing of the Natanz centrifuge hall, the exposing of security lies about the assassination of Ardashir Hosseinpour in 2020, and the explosion at the Natanz station in 2021.
Iranian journalist, Muhammad Gharawi, says that the establishment of the “Nuclear Centers Protection and Security Command” aims to secure the relevant facilities after a series of strikes, some of which came at the hands of the Israeli Mossad.
Gharawi considers that by announcing the arrest of a network of agents targeting the “Fordo” facility, the “Nuclear Guard” will record its first success in securing these facilities.
Israeli influence
Last July, former Intelligence Minister Ali Younesi admitted in a media interview the great influence of Israeli intelligence in Iran over the past ten years, until it became present in all state institutions.
At that time, Younesi called on officials to be careful, especially since these networks could target any of them.
In reference to one of the reasons for this intrusion and security strikes, Younesi blamed the auxiliary security and military agencies that were established in Iran during the past ten years, considering that they were established for the benefit of powerful centers and influential parties to be a competitor and observer of the Ministry of Central Intelligence itself.
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