Haniyeh killed by short range projectile

Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh was killed with a "short-range projectile" fired from outside his guesthouse in Tehran, according to Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), reports Saudi Gazette.

The paramilitary organization said the projectile weighed about 7kg (16lbs) and caused a "strong blast," killing Haniyeh and his bodyguard last Wednesday. Haniyeh was in Tehran to attend inauguration of President Massoud Pezeshkian.

The IRGC accused Israel, with US support, of designing and implementing the operation. Israel has not commented on Haniyeh's death.

Western media reports suggest that explosives were planted in the guesthouse by Israeli operatives, conflicting with the IRGC's account. The incident has embarrassed Iran and the IRGC, especially given the intense security on the day of the attack.

Dozens of IRGC officers have been arrested or dismissed since Haniyeh's death, according to the New York Times.

The IRGC's intelligence agency has taken over the investigation, interrogating staff members at Haniyeh's guesthouse and seizing their electronics.

In response to the security breach, the security details of Iranian politicians have been overhauled.

The IRGC's statement followed a report by Britain's Daily Telegraph that Haniyeh was killed by bombs planted in his room by agents of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency.

The New York Times also reported that Haniyeh was killed by explosives, potentially planted up to two months earlier. Hamas officials noted that Haniyeh had stayed at the guesthouse before and had made numerous visits to Iran since becoming the head of the political bureau in 2017.

If true, these reports would indicate a significant failure for the IRGC, highlighting Mossad's ability to operate within Iran.

Both Iran and Hamas have vowed to retaliate for Haniyeh's death. The IRGC promised "severe punishment" for Israel at an appropriate time, while Hezbollah has also vowed reprisals after one of their commanders was killed in an Israeli strike.

The situation has escalated regional tensions, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warning Israelis of challenging days ahead and preparing for any scenario.

The US has deployed additional warships and fighter jets to the Middle East to help defend Israel from potential attacks by Iran.

British Foreign Secretary David Lammy warned of a rapidly deteriorating situation on the ground.

Israeli officials, including the heads of Mossad and Shin Bet, are in Cairo for ceasefire talks with Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel.

US President Joe Biden acknowledged that Haniyeh's death had damaged the ceasefire negotiations. The conflict, which began in October 2023, has resulted in significant casualties.

Mossad abducts terror leader from inside Iran

Mossad announced on Thursday its method for recently thwarting a Cyprus terror attack by kidnapping the mastermind from within Iranian territory, reports The Jerusalem Post.

The stunning revelation, including the identity of the mastermind, Yusef Shahabazi Abbasalilu, was the latest in the saga which itself first broke on last Sunday.

“In a unique daring mission within Iranian territory, the Mossad was able to seize the mastermind of the terror cell, who then admitted to the terror plot in detail during his interrogation, which led to exposing and the taking apart of the Cyprus terror cell,” said a Mossad statement.

A senior Mossad official said, “We will get to every official who advances terror against Jews and Israelis anywhere in the world, including within Iranian territory.”

Abbasalilu had received detailed instructions from senior members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and told his interrogators exactly how the plot was to be carried out and where to find all the related supplies and cell members, said the Mossad.

Next, the spy agency passed on the information to Cyprus’ authorities who arrested most of the cell’s other members.

On Sunday, The Jerusalem Post and Phile News reported that the Mossad and Cyprus thwarted a planned Iranian terrorist attack on Jews on the island state.

That initial report said that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps planned the attack, which was stopped in cooperation between Cyprus and Western partners, which named the US and Israel as among the likely partners.

Jerusalem and Nicosia have worked together to foil Iranian plots to attack Israelis in the past. In 2021, they arrested a Russian-Azerbaijani hitman hired by the IRGC to kill Israeli businessmen in Cyprus. Billionaire Teddy Sagi, among others, was evacuated to Israel at the time.

Channel 12 added on Sunday that the terror cell targeted a Jewish real estate businessman, a Chabad site and hotels where Israelis tend to visit. Seven members of the cell were arrested, with one having escaped.

In March, Greek police disrupted what they called a foreign terrorist network operating within the country and arrested two foreign nationals.

According to both the Mossad and AFP, the terrorists were plotting to attack Israelis in Greece. “This is another example of Iran trying to use terror against Israeli and Jewish targets overseas,” said the Mossad at the time.

The Mossad had also helped identify the connection between the local terror cell in Greece and Iran’s broader global terror operations.

According to the intelligence agency, along with our intelligence partners, we will act in our role without rest to thwart Iran’s intentions to cause harm throughout the world.

In the Greece instance, the terrorists planned to strike a target of high symbolic value, a Jewish synagogue, which also functions as a restaurant, located in the center of Athens, Greek media reported.

In 2022, Greek media noted that Pakistani nationals were involved in an attempted attack on an Israeli in Istanbul, Turkey.

It was unclear if Greek media were referring to the September 2022 joint Turkey-Mossad operation which saved the lives of a large number of Israeli tourists.

In mid-2022, the Mossad kidnapped another senior IRGC official who revealed a variety of Iranian plots in the midst of a series of operations in which a number of other IRCG operatives and nuclear scientists were assassinated, with Iran accusing Israel.

 

Drone attack on Iranian weapons factory termed phenomenal success

Despite Iranian claims, the drone attack on Iran at Isfahan was a tremendous success, according to a mix of Western intelligence sources and foreign sources, The Jerusalem Post initially reported on Sunday.

Several hours later, The Wall Street Journal came out with a similar report, stating that Israel and the Mossad were behind the attack, citing US officials.

There were four large explosions at the military industry factory, documented on social media, against a facility developing advanced weapons. The damage goes far beyond the minor roof damage that the Islamic Republic claimed earlier Sunday.

Iran's response matches responses to similar incidents. Iran’s foreign minister said the cowardly attack was aimed at creating insecurity in Iran. Their defense ministry said the explosion caused only minor damage and no casualties. The extent of the damage could not be independently confirmed.

Israel is playing mum, but most Western intelligence and Iranian sources have credited the Mossad with similarly successful attacks against Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility in July 2020, a different Natanz nuclear facility in April 2021, another nuclear facility at Karaj in June 2021 and with destroying around 120 or more Iranian drones in February 2022.

Few organizations globally, besides the Mossad, are believed to possess the advanced and surgical strike capabilities displayed in the operation.

Multiple large drones with significant amounts of explosives were involved and hit their targets with pinpoint accuracy.

In each of the prior incidents, Tehran tried initially to pretend that the attacks failed and only acknowledged the extent of the damage when satellite photos or other evidence broke into the public sphere, outflanking their denials.

It is still unclear whether the advanced weapons damaged related only to conventional warfare, or might have nuclear relevance, such as for use in ballistic missiles or explosives which can be used for both conventional and nuclear weapons.

Isfahan has been used on and off for various nuclear issues as well as non-nuclear military issues.

Iran even at one point told the IAEA that some of the nuclear activities being carried out at the Karaj nuclear facility until June 2021 had been moved to Isfahan.

The WSJ noted that there was an Iranian aerospace facility nearby, which could also be utilizing dual-use items for space launches and nuclear weapons, used for escaping and reentering Earth’s atmosphere.

Speculation centered on whether the attack was meant to set back Iran’s advanced drone program or a new program, such as the development of hypersonic missiles, with Russian help.

Hypersonic missiles fly so fast and have such advanced maneuverability that many experts believe they could penetrate all of Israel’s air defenses.

Another theme raised during the day was that the US and the CIA may have been involved this time.

Experts noted that the US and Israel just spent an entire week conducting military exercises around attacking targets, such as Iran, so carrying out such an attack immediately after these exercises could be meant to send a message as to their seriousness.

They estimated that the visit of CIA Director William Burns to Israel just before the attack was evidence of a need for a special face-to-face meeting between the CIA and Mossad chiefs preparing the attack.

The US has adopted a more aggressive tone with Iran since it provided drones to Russia in the war with Ukraine and has demonstrated even more impatience recently with Tehran’s failure to return to the 2015 nuclear deal.

 

Iran claims busting Mossad spy cell

Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence announced that it had dismantled a spy cell run by Israel’s Mossad that was planning to carry out acts of sabotage in the country’s defense industry through security marketing.

The Iranian intelligence forces uncovered a plot by a Mossad espionage network to gather information from Iranian knowledge-based companies that cooperate with Iran’s defense industries, Tasnim reported. 

The Israeli regime’s Mossad spy agency hired data broker Frank Genin, who introduced himself as the chief of a spare parts manufacturer company and was able to contact several Iranian companies and employees, according to Tasnim. 

The Mossad agent then invited his coworkers to a seminar in Malaysia, where he introduced them to another Mossad agent, Hadrien Lavaux.

As a cover-up, Lavaux has been the managing director of Triple A Industries, an Aerospace advanced alloys and composites company that was established in Singapore in 2017. Since then, the company started communicating with Iranian companies that provide carbon fibers, resin, and other metal alloys.

It is worth mentioning that Triple A Industries’ website says that Frank Genin is the chairman of the company, which explains the close cooperation between Genin and Lavaux.

Lavaux’s associates in Iran attended different exhibitions, monitored scientific conferences, and identified the latest needs of Iran’s defense industries.

They later began to identify the chiefs, salespersons and important employees in companies that are active in the field of defense industries. These employees were invited to multiple front conferences abroad, including in Turkey, Hungary, Oman and Georgia, and their trips were fully covered, Press TV reported.

However, Iran’s intelligence forces had kept a close eye on these trips and were able to track down the network.

Earlier, four thugs who had been found guilty of having connections to Israel's Mossad spy agency were put to death early, the Iranian judiciary announced. The executions were carried out earlier this month. 

The four convicted individuals were named as Hossein Ordukhanzadeh, Shahin Imani Mahmoudabad, Milad Ashrafi Atbatan, and Manouchehr Shahbandi Bejandi in the judiciary's announcement.

The four men were detained by the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps in June (IRGC). They were eventually given the death penalty by a court for both kidnapping and intelligence collaboration with the Zionist regime.

According to an earlier IRGC statement, the squad had received training from Mossad personnel on how to utilize combat weapons for kidnapping operations while being reimbursed with bitcoins.

The capture of the members of the gang who worked with Mossad was revealed by the IRGC public relations department in June.

The group used to kidnap individuals, steal and destroy private and public property, and force their victims to make false confessions.

They were instructed by a Mossad officer in Sweden, the Mizan news agency said.

The gang members abducted victims and collected bitcoin as ransom. They have admitted that they worked with foreign intelligence services and were paid to undermine Iran's security. The gang network was connected to the Israeli spy service by Hossein Ordukhanzadeh, who had been in jail in Greece from 2014-017 for trafficking humans from Turkey to Greece.

 

Cyberattack against Israeli sites

Cyberattack against Israeli sites follows reports of failed Mossad op against Iran. Lately, Iranian media claimed that Mossad allegedly attempted to attack its key Fordow nuclear enrichment site.

There was no way to independently confirm the report. Tehran frequently claims to have busted Mossad cells when actually it is merely arresting local opposition elements.

According to Iranian media, a statement from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) intelligence unit said a Mossad team that was seeking to carry out an act of sabotage at Fordow was arrested.

Further, reports said that an employee had been given cash and a laptop to sabotage the site, but that he was caught and arrested by the IRGC.

Fordow is the second most important site in terms of volume of centrifuges for enriching uranium, after the Natanz facility.

It is also important because Israeli intelligence and nuclear experts believe that it was previously intended to be where Iran would carry out the final stages of uranium enrichment to the 90% weaponized level and because it is harder to attack from the air, being that it resides under a mountain.

The government confirmed that a wide number of government websites had been hit and were possibly still being hit by a massive Cyberattack.

Communications Minister Yoaz Hendel said that officials were working hard at tackling the issue.

Former senior cyber authority official Rafael Franko, founder of Code Blue, said that Black Shadow to be affiliated with Iran, was behind Cyberattack on the diamond exchange over the weekend, potentially in retaliation to other events related to ongoing Israeli-Iranian conflict.

He warned the country to heighten cyber-preparedness during this rocky period and leading into the Passover holiday when Israeli adversaries often mount cyberattacks.

Confidas CEO Ram Levi said that there was a major attack on Cellcom, likely a denial of service attack where the cyber attacker tries to overwhelm the victim with data and inquiries.

He said the attack started at 6:15 pm and ended at 7:30 pm and also declared it an Iranian Cyberattack.

Some speculated that this was part of Iranian retaliation for the alleged attempted sabotage of Fordow.

The Islamic Republic also claimed multiple recent arrests of Mossad officials and that its missile strikes in the Kurdish Erbil portion of Iraq were aimed at clandestine Mossad sites there.

According to foreign sources, the Mossad successfully hit three Iranian nuclear sites from July 2020 to June 2021 and possibly other nuclear-related sites as well even as recently as September 2021.

Iran Mossad, cyber warfare, Fordow nuclear plant

 

Israel made efforts to derail Pakistan nuclear program

Reportedly, Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad is suspected of detonating bombs and issuing threats to German and Swiss companies in the 1980s that helped Pakistan in its nascent nuclear weapons program.

Lately, the prominent Swiss daily Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) reported on the findings. According to the paper, “The suspicion that the Mossad might be behind the attacks and threats soon arose. For Israel, the prospect that Pakistan, for the first time, could become an Islamic state with an atomic bomb posed an existential threat.”

The paper reported that Pakistan and Iran worked closely together in the 1980s on the construction of nuclear weapons devices. According to the NZZ, the intensive work of companies from Germany and Switzerland in aiding Iran’s nuclear program “has been relatively well researched.”

The paper quoted the Swiss historian Adrian Hänni who said the Mossad was likely involved in the bomb attacks of Swiss and German companies added, there was no “smoking gun” to prove the Mossad carried out the attacks.

The Organization for the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons in South Asia, a previously unknown entity, claimed credit for the explosions in Switzerland and Germany.

The NZZ reports on the role of the late Pakistani nuclear scientist, Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan’s atomic weapons program. He crisscrossed Europe during the 1980s to secure technology and blueprints from Western institutions and companies. The paper wrote that Khan met in a Zurich hotel with a delegation of Iran’s Organization for Atomic Energy in 1987.  The Iranian delegation was led by the engineer Masud Naraghi, the chief of Iran’s nuclear energy commission.

Two German engineers, Gotthard Lerch and Heinz Mebus, along with Naraghi, who earned his PhD in the USA, met with Khan’s group in Switzerland. Additional meetings took place in Dubai.

With the fast-moving efforts by Pakistan to jumpstart its nuclear weapons program, the US government sought, without success, to get the German and Swiss governments to crack down on companies in their countries that were aiding Pakistan. Suspected Mossad agents allegedly took action in Switzerland and Germany against the companies and engineers involved in aiding Pakistan.

According to the NZZ, “A few months after the unsuccessful intervention of the US State Department in Bonn and Bern, unknown perpetrators carried out explosive attacks on three of these companies: on February 20, 1981 on the house of a leading employee of Cora Engineering Chur; on May 18, 1981  on the factory building of the Wälischmiller company in Markdorf;  and finally, on November 06, 1981, on the engineering office of Heinz Mebus in Erlangen. All three attacks resulted in only property damage, only Mebus's dog was killed.”

The paper highlighted, “The explosives attacks were accompanied by several phone calls in which strangers threatened other delivery companies in English or broken German. Sometimes the caller would order the threats to be taped. ‘The attack that we carried out against the Wälischmiller company could happen to you too’ - this is how the Leybold-Heraeus administration office was intimidated.

Siegfried Schertler, the owner of VAT at the time, and his head salesman Tinner were called several times on their private lines. Schertler also reported to the Swiss Federal Police that the Israeli secret service had contacted him. This emerges from the investigation files, which the NZZ was able to see for the first time.”

Schertler said an employee of the Israeli embassy in Germany named David, contacted the VAT executive. The company head said that David urged him to stop ‘these businesses’ regarding nuclear weapons and switch to the textile business.

Swiss and German companies derived significant profits from their business with the Khan nuclear weapons network. The NZZ reported “Many of these suppliers, mainly from Germany and Switzerland, soon entered into business worth millions with Pakistan. Leybold-Heraeus, Wälischmiller, Cora Engineering Chur, Vakuum-Apparate-Technik (VAT, with the chief buyer Friedrich Tinner) or the Buchs metal works, to name a few. They benefited from an important circumstance. The German and Swiss authorities interpreted their dual-use provisions very generously. Most of the components that are required for uranium enrichment, for example, high-precision vacuum valves, are primarily used for civil purposes.”

The NZZ reported that recently the National Security Archive in Washington published diplomatic correspondence from the US State Department from Bonn and Bern in 1980.

“This shows how the US resented the two countries' casual handling of the delicate deliveries to Pakistan. In a note from an employee, Bern's behavior was described as a ‘hands-off approach’ - the local authorities were accordingly accused of turning a blind eye. In the now released dispatches, which were previously classified as secret, those companies are listed for the first time that the US has accused of supporting the Pakistani nuclear weapons program with their deliveries. The list included around half a dozen companies each from Germany and Switzerland.”

 

 

CIA head to meet Israeli Military Intelligence Chief

The head of the CIA, Bill Burns will meet with the head of the IDF’s Military Intelligence Maj.-Gen. Tamir Hayman during his visit to Israel on Tuesday. He will also meet with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and with the new Mossad Director David Barnea.

Burns is in Israel amid reports that the US is considering alternative ways to get Iran to stop advancing its nuclear program as negotiations to return to the 2015 Iran deal stall.

Israel considers Iran’s nuclear program as the number one concern. Though, Tehran has always denied seeking nuclear weapons, it is believed that they are continuing to develop the capabilities to produce a nuclear weapons arsenal as well as produce ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.

Last week Defense Minister Benny Gantz said that Israel was ready to strike Iran, saying that the Islamic Republic was a threat to the country, Middle East and the entire world.

“Iran is an international and regional problem. The world witnessed one example on Friday,” Gantz told Ynet, referring to the deadly attack against the Mercer Street tanker that was struck by a suicide drone. “This could happen to anyone,” he said.

With new Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi taking over from moderate Hassan Rouhani on Thursday, Gantz said that he could lead Iran to even more extreme regional and security policies.

Between the long lull in negotiations and Raisi entering office, plus recent attacks on ships in the Persian Gulf, including on the Mercer Street, in which a Romanian and a British national were killed, many in the State Department think a return to the JCPOA is unlikely, though there is still a faction that remains hopeful, according to an Israeli official involved in talks with the US on Iran.

Israel and the US have been working on preparing for that scenario, including when Bennett’s diplomatic adviser Shimrit Meir and National Security Adviser Eyal Hulata visited Washington last week.

Burns will also reportedly meet with Palestinian Authority intelligence chief Majed Faraj in Ramallah, as well as PA President Mahmoud Abbas.

Iran claims arresting Mossad agents with weapons

According to Fars News Agency, Iranian Intelligence Ministry claims arresting a network of Mossad agents and seizing a heavy shipment of weapons and ammunition after they entered Iran through its western border.

The Ministry stated that the Mossad network in the area was hit hard after Iran managed to thwart the alleged sabotage attempts.

The Intelligence Ministry thanked the people of Iran for their constant vigilance and called on all citizens to be more vigilant and aware of suspicious offers, especially on the Internet.

The seized weapons included pistols, grenades and shotguns, according to the Ministry, which added that some of the weapons have been used to provoke clashes during protests.

The Ministry claimed that the alleged agents intended to use the weapons during the ongoing protests taking place throughout Iran in order to carry out assassinations and that Israel attempted to carry out acts of sabotage in various places during the recent presidential elections.

The announcement comes as protests continue across Iran for a third week in light of a severe drought and water crisis in southwestern Iran, and the day after anti-government protests broke out in Tehran.

A video shared on social media showed protesters marching down the streets of the capital on Monday shouting slogans such as “Death to the dictator” and “Neither Gaza nor Lebanon: I will sacrifice my life for Iran.”

Additionally on Tuesday, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced that it had killed two terrorists and captured another in the West Azerbaijan province in northwestern Iran. The IRGC claimed that the three member team planned to carry out sabotage and anti-security measures, according to Fars.

Three additional suspects who intended to protect the terrorists were also arrested, according to the report.

A “considerable amount” of weapons, ammunition and explosives were seized in the arrest, according to Fars.

On Monday, the Judiciary Office in the Fars Province announced that 11 members of a terrorist-takfiri group controlled by leaders located outside of Iran were arrested in the Fars Province.

An additional 25 individuals connected to the group were arrested in other provinces in a coordinated operation, according to the announcement.

“Takfiri” is a term used by Iran and pro-Iranian groups to refer to hard-line, Islamist militants.

The Judiciary Office added that the group had released a number of video clips on the Internet to spread terror and declare their existence. The office did not state what the name of the group was or where exactly its leaders are located.

“The group intended to carry out simultaneous terrorist operations in several provinces of the country which was plotted with the intelligence and financial cooperation of two intelligence services of the European countries and certain regional states but they were thwarted, thanks to the vigilance of judicial officials,” said the head of the Judiciary Office, according to Fars.

Israel attacks Iranian nuclear facility at Natanz

Mossad was reportedly behind the cyberattack at the Natanz nuclear plant on Sunday that caused extensive damage to Iran’s main uranium enrichment facility.

Western sources quoted in Israeli media said the attack, which was initially referred to as an accident by Iran, was carried out by the Mossad.

Iran admitted on Sunday evening that the accident was the result of a terrorist act.

The country’s nuclear chief, Ali Akbar Salehi, said the international community and the International Atomic Energy Agency needed to deal with what he called nuclear terrorism. Iran reserves the right to take action against the perpetrators, he was quoted as saying.

The incident at Natanz was not an accident, and the damage was worse than what Iran had initially presented to the public, a source confirmed to The Jerusalem Post. Western sources said the facility was hit by a cyberattack.

IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kohavi gave a rare strong hint pointing to Israeli involvement on Sunday.

 “The IDF’s actions throughout the Middle East are not hidden from our enemies’ vision, who are observing us, seeing our capabilities and carefully considering their next steps,” he said in a speech honoring Israel’s fallen soldiers.

“By virtue of clever operational activities, the past year was one of the most secure years that the citizens of the State of Israel have known,” Kohavi said.

“We will continue to act, combining power and discretion, determination and responsibility – all of this to guarantee the security of the State of Israel.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, at an Independence Day event on Sunday with the heads of the security branches, said, “The struggle against Iran and its proxies and the Iranian armament efforts is a huge mission.”

In a possible reference to the reported Mossad operation taking the uranium enrichment machines off-line within hours of their launch, he said: “The situation that exists today will not necessarily be the situation that will exist tomorrow.”

Natanz has in the past been targeted by Israeli cyber operations, according to foreign reports. In 2010, the Stuxnet virus attacked the facility in a joint operation with the US, destroying more than 1,000 centrifuges.

Iran said there no injuries or pollution were caused by the incident on Sunday. Malek Shariati-Niasar, an Iranian MP and spokesman for a parliamentary energy commission, wrote that the incident was highly suspected as being “sabotage,” being that it occurred on Iran’s National Nuclear Technology Day and amid the renewal of talks between the Islamic Republic and Western nations on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action nuclear deal of 2015.

The Iranian parliament was following the details of the incident and would announce an opinion on the matter after receiving and summarizing the information, he said.

Earlier on Sunday, Iran said a problem with the electrical distribution grid of the Natanz site had caused an incident.

Iranian MP Ali Haddad placed the blame for the incident on Israel.

“Yesterday the assassination of a nuclear scientist and today the attack on the Iranian ship Saviz and the sabotage of the Natanz nuclear facility,” he tweeted.

Haddad called for deterrence and not restraint. “When commitment is translated as restraint, the Zionist enemy dares to strike more blows,” he said.

The attack against Natanz took place a day after Iran began injecting uranium hexafluoride gas into advanced IR-6 and IR-5 centrifuges at Natanz and was revealed as US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was visiting Israel.

It also came less than a month after the IAEA reported that Iran had restarted enrichment at the Natanz facility and less than a year after Israel was blamed by foreign reports for an alleged attack on the facility, which reportedly had significantly impacted Iran’s nuclear program.

Iran is still nowhere near having recovered to the point where it had been before that July 2020 explosion in terms of its capacity for assembling new advanced centrifuges, the Post recently reported.

In the alleged attack last year, Iranian reports originally referred to the explosion as an incident without providing further details.

“The centrifuge assembly hall was blown up by the enemy a few months ago, but we did not stop and temporarily set up the hall that made up for the lost hall,” Iranian nuclear chief Salehi said Saturday, according to Iran’s semi-official Fars News Agency. He did not specify which “enemy” was behind the attack last year.

Iran is working to move sensitive facilities at Natanz further underground and hopes the new underground halls will be ready next year, Salehi said.

Tensions are rising between Israel and Iran amid a number of attacks on Iranian and Israeli maritime vessels, with recent reports claiming that Israel has hit dozens of Iranian ships in recent years.

On Tuesday, a spokesman for the Iranian military blamed Israel and the US for causing an explosion on the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’ Saviz vessel in the Red Sea, Sputnik news reported last Thursday.

“The United States undoubtedly has a hand in all attempts to undermine and harm Iran,” the spokesman said in a statement, adding that Tehran was not accusing any of the Gulf states of being involved in the incident.

Iran is meeting with European and American officials to discuss a possible return to the JCPOA.

Netanyahu has warned multiple times in the past week that Israel would defend itself against Iranian threats, stressing that Jerusalem would work to combat Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.

Turmoil in Jordan or coup sponsored by Israel

Former Mossad agent Roi Shpushnik was allegedly involved in the attempted coup in Jordan, according to reports in Jordan reported by Maariv, The Jerusalem Post's sister publication. According to the reports, the former Israeli agent offered Prince Hamza a plane to escape from the kingdom.

Earlier on Sunday, Jordan's Deputy Prime Minister Ayman Safadi said that Prince Hamza had liaised with foreign parties over a plot to destabilize the country.   

On Saturday the military said it had issued a warning to the prince over actions targeting "security and stability" in the key US ally. Prince Hamza later said he was under house arrest. Several high-profile figures were also detained.

"The investigations had monitored interferences and communications with foreign parties over the right timing to destabilize Jordan," Safadi said.

These included a Mossad agent contacting Prince Hamza's wife to organize a plane for the couple to leave Jordan, he said.

Many Jordanians were still grappling for answers in the aftermath of reports that Jordanian security forces foiled an attempt by Hamzah and some of his associates to topple the regime of King Abdullah.

People around Hamzah communicated with entities calling themselves “external opposition,” Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said Sunday. He did not provide details about the “external opposition.”

Sixteen Jordanians have been detained in connection with the case, including Bassem Awadallah, a former head of the royal court, and Sharif bin Zaid, a member of the royal family, Safadi said. He accused the detainees of planning to “undermine the security” of Jordan.

Safadi accused Hamzah of sending out a video message on Saturday night as part of an attempt to “distort the facts and gain local and foreign sympathy.”

Abdullah received phone calls on Sunday from the kings of Morocco and Bahrain and the emirs of Qatar and Kuwait, who expressed their countries’ “full solidarity” with Jordan.

The leaders also voiced support for all measures and decisions taken by Abdullah to safeguard Jordan’s security and stability, the Jordanian news agency Petra reported.

Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and the Gulf Cooperation Council also voiced full support for Abdullah in maintaining security and stability in Jordan.

Ascertaining identity of those attacking Iran

On Wednesday, 7th June 2017 gunmen and suicide bombers attacked Iran's parliament and the shrine of its revolutionary leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Reportedly, at least 12 people were killed and dozens wounded. All the four attackers were also killed. According to media reports IS group has claimed the responsibility, marking it the first ever assault in Iran. The militants are at war with Iranian-backed forces in Syria and Iraq.

According to another media report IS group's Aamaq news agency has released a 24-second video purportedly shot inside the parliament building during the siege. The video, circulated online, shows a gunman and a bloody, lifeless body of a man lying on the ground next to a desk. A voice on the video says in Arabic: "Do you think we will leave? We will remain." This was a slogan used by IS spokesman Abu Mohammad al-Adnani, who was killed in Syria last year.

I have repeatedly written in my blogs that western media mostly comprises of ‘embedded journalists’ or those who tow the lines of media houses owned and operated by Zionists. I live in Pakistan that is often termed ‘front line partner in the war against terror’, which has also been the worst victim of terrorism. In Pakistan various banned outfits have claimed responsibility of hundreds of suicide attacks, the most notorious  of these outfits are TTP and Jundallah.

Today I would like to refer to one of my blogs  written as back as on 17th December 2012. Its title was 'Tattoos on the body of attackers on Peshawar Airport'http://shkazmipk.blogspot.com/2012/12/tattoos-on-body-of-attackers-on.html. I had questioned the presence of tattoos on the bodies of the attackers who called themselves Muslims.

It is interesting to note that IS often claims attacks around the world, even when links to the group cannot be confirmed and appear dubious. I have all the reasons to suspect that those involved in attacks in Iran may belong to any country or religion, but were trained by Mossad, Israeli spy agency. In the past  Mossad has killed Iranian nuclear scientists in Iran and UAE. It is often alleged that the Israeli spy agency has also been godfathering Jundallah, operating in Pakistan as well as Iran.