Incident at Natanz nuclear facility in Iran

[DarkHunter]

Early Thursday morning Iranian time there has been an incident occuring has been reported at the Iranian Natanz nuclear facility.  According to the Iran's atomic organization the incident occured at an outdoor area of the facility and that there has been no casualties and work on the site has not been disrupted.  Iran is currently saying a building was damaged but the reactor core is fine but not exactly what the incident was.

The Natanz nuclear facility was hit by the Stuxnet virus between 2007 and 2010.  This is also about one week after a large explosion at an Iranian missile facility at Khojir and Shiraz losing electricity probably from a cyber attack.

Edited July 2, 2020 by DarkHunter

[Hankenhunter]

Link;

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.thechronicleherald.ca/news/iran-says-natanz-nuclear-facility-not-damaged-after-incident-468678/%23:~:text%3DDUBAI%20(Reuters)%20%2D%20An%20%22,Energy%20Organisation%20said%20on%20Thursday.%26text%3D%22The%20incident%20took%20place%20in,near%20Iran's%20Natanz%20nuclear%20facility.&ved=2ahUKEwi4gZrhr67qAhXYJTQIHZi-BC8QFjABegQICxAF&usg=AOvVaw0AoOgV9z50-fiZQFyGymDN

[Duke Wellington]

2 hours ago, DarkHunter said:

Early Thursday morning Iranian time there has been an incident occuring has been reported at the Iranian Natanz nuclear facility.  According to the Iran's atomic organization the incident occured at an outdoor area of the facility and that there has been no casualties and work on the site has not been disrupted.  Iran is currently saying a building was damaged but the reactor core is fine but not exactly what the incident was.

The Natanz nuclear facility was hit by the Stuxnet virus between 2007 and 2010.  This is also about one week after a large explosion at an Iranian missile facility at Khojir and Shiraz losing electricity probably from a cyber attack.

The thing is there will be foreign agents working as scientists and engineers at the facility reporting back to their respective security services about what the Iranians are doing.

We know they are after nukes, they know we know they are after nukes, they play their games to deny it, so we ruin their fun for them.

[Grim Reaper 6]

4 hours ago, DarkHunter said:

Early Thursday morning Iranian time there has been an incident occuring has been reported at the Iranian Natanz nuclear facility.  According to the Iran's atomic organization the incident occured at an outdoor area of the facility and that there has been no casualties and work on the site has not been disrupted.  Iran is currently saying a building was damaged but the reactor core is fine but not exactly what the incident was.

The Natanz nuclear facility was hit by the Stuxnet virus between 2007 and 2010.  This is also about one week after a large explosion at an Iranian missile facility at Khojir and Shiraz losing electricity probably from a cyber attack.

@DarkHunter  There was a fire in a building above the underground Nuclear facility, the fire must have been pretty intense because one of our Satellites was able to see around 2:00 am.

Here is link that goes into more detail: https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/incident-damages-construction-iran-nuclear-site-71570921

Peace  

[DarkHunter]

Apparently shortly after the incident an unverified statement seems to of been sent to various journalists saying the incident was an attack done by an underground opposition group within Iran's security apparatus going by the name Homeland Panthers or Homeland Cheetahs, I seen both names being used which seems to come from a translation issue into english.

No news agency has yet been able to verify the statement yet or if the group even actually exist or not.

[DarkHunter]

Hearing unconfirmed reports that the explosion that occured at Natanz was caused by a planted explosive device that destroyed essentially the entirety of the above ground portion of the building it was planted in.

Also a minor correction.  Seems the message received by various journalists from a group calling themselves Cheetahs of the Homeland was not received after the explosion but hours before it occured.  Seems the message explained how there was going to be an explosion at Natanz and how it would be above ground to make it impossible for the Iranian regime to cover it up.

@Manwon Lender figured you would like to hear about this also

[Grim Reaper 6]

2 hours ago, DarkHunter said:

Hearing unconfirmed reports that the explosion that occured at Natanz was caused by a planted explosive device that destroyed essentially the entirety of the above ground portion of the building it was planted in.

Also a minor correction.  Seems the message received by various journalists from a group calling themselves Cheetahs of the Homeland was not received after the explosion but hours before it occured.  Seems the message explained how there was going to be an explosion at Natanz and how it would be above ground to make it impossible for the Iranian regime to cover it up.

@Manwon Lender figured you would like to hear about this also

Thanks  very much for the update, and it appears we were right that all this may be tied to the situation you posted before. I will watch the news and try to help you keep this thread updated.

Peace

[DarkHunter]

5 hours ago, Manwon Lender said:

Thanks  very much for the update, and it appears we were right that all this may be tied to the situation you posted before. I will watch the news and try to help you keep this thread updated.

Peace

Only thing I'm not sure on is who could possibly be behind everything going on or if its multiple parties just taking advantage of the confusion caused by the other parties, there is even a decent possibility this attack was completely home grown. 

Mostly I'm interested in the Cheetahs of the Homeland group that is trying to take responsibility, mostly curious on if they are an actual group or an attempt to get Iran to turn on itself.  The building destroyed was decently sized and the above ground part's interior is supposedly mostly or completely destroyed which seems to suggest better equipment, planning, and execution then what some random anti-regime group should be able to acquire and pull off.  The message they sent did say they were a group inside Iran's security apparatus which would seem to suggest military or at minimum military connections.  While the IRGC is strictly loyal to the regime the Iranian military might not be as loyal especially after the IRGC cracked down violently on the Iranian protesters.  But if an outside party did want to try to create maximum chaos and destabilization trying to turn the IRGC and the Iranian military on each other would be effective.  Ultimately I'm more curious to see if there are future attacks and if the same group pops up again.

As for more updates as I try to not just post pure speculation the Iranian government continues to flip flop on the issue of what happened in Natanz.  Earlier today the Iranian government said it was going to look closely at the incident and weigh its response to hostile countries, then they said the incident was an accident with no proof of any explosive device being found, then a few hours later Iran was back to investigating the incident and threatening America and Israel again.  America has also released a statement saying they are monitoring reports from Natanz.  

[DarkHunter]

Now Iran is saying they have determined the cause of fire at Natanz but due to security reservations it will be announced later at the appropriate time.

Three anonymous Iranian officials have told Reutors that the Iranian government believes an Israeli cyber attack caused the fire and explosion that destroyed a centrifuge production facility in Natanz and is threatening to retaliate.

What is particularly interesting is what the Times of Israel and Al-Jaridah are reporting, Al-Jaridah ran the story first with the Times of Israel picking it up after.  The story is that Israel was behind the attacks on the missile facility and the nuclear facility.  The story also goes into how Israel used a cyber attack to target the nuclear facility but used an F-35 to bomb the missile facility.  There are some factual issues with the report like saying the missile facility was in Parchin when it was in Khojir.  While the Times of Israel is generally rather good with factual reporting Al-Jaridah is more mixed so overall I'm a bit skeptical over this information till more independent verification comes in.

[DarkHunter]

This isnt strictly about what occured at the Natanz nuclear facility, it might not even be related at all but it's still odd.

Apparently earlier today/last night there was an explosion at a power station and a chlorine gas leak at a petrochemical facility.  Both could very well be unrelated and just accidents but given everything that has happened in approximately the last week and a half it just seems suspicious.

[+and-then]

2 hours ago, DarkHunter said:

This isnt strictly about what occured at the Natanz nuclear facility, it might not even be related at all but it's still odd.

Apparently earlier today/last night there was an explosion at a power station and a chlorine gas leak at a petrochemical facility.  Both could very well be unrelated and just accidents but given everything that has happened in approximately the last week and a half it just seems suspicious.

I think Israel is sending a very clear message to Tehran that their attempt to cause mass casualties through a cyber attack on the water supply, is a line they'd better never cross again.

[DarkHunter]

17 hours ago, and then said:

I think Israel is sending a very clear message to Tehran that their attempt to cause mass casualties through a cyber attack on the water supply, is a line they'd better never cross again.

It is very possible that is Israel sending a message about future mass casualty attack and is probably what is going on.  Also doesnt help that since the revolution in Iran the Iranian government hasnt done much to anything to maintain infrastructure within Iran which may account for some of the incidents.  Whether everything that has happened is due to Israel, decaying infrastructure, or both there is now the perception in Iran that they are being attacked so they will probably respond in some way soon.

New and better satellite footage of what occured in Natanz and the Iranian account of it being a fire is seeming less likely.

https://mobile.twitter.com/AmichaiStein1/status/1279775479755653120/photo/1

Seems approximately half the building is gone with a rather extensive debris field which suggest a powerful explosion occured and not just a fire.  Atleast the Iranian government filmed their news reports from the half that was still standing to try and push the fire narrative.

[DarkHunter]

Iran has confirmed it was a centrifuge production facility that blew up/caught on fire, that the incident caused heavy material losses including the loss of precision equipment, and that the incident could slow down their development and production of advanced centrifuges in the mid-term.  

Also some elements of the Iranian government do not seem particularly happy with the IAEA saying how they will no longer allow them to act as spies for hostile countries.

While possibly unrelated but still rather odd Iran has been moving anti-air missiles, what makes it odd is they arent covering the missiles with anything instead opting to move them in full view of the public and anyone else watching.  Should be mentioned the movement seems to only be happening in one city close to an IRGC residential complex.

[+and-then]

1 hour ago, DarkHunter said:

While possibly unrelated but still rather odd Iran has been moving anti-air missiles, what makes it odd is they arent covering the missiles with anything instead opting to move them in full view of the public and anyone else watching.  Should be mentioned the movement seems to only be happening in one city close to an IRGC residential complex.

At least one of the explosions were said to have been due to an F-35 attack.  They don't have that kind of range so it had to take off from another country for that to be accurate.

[DarkHunter]

12 minutes ago, and then said:

At least one of the explosions were said to have been due to an F-35 attack.  They don't have that kind of range so it had to take off from another country for that to be accurate.

The report of an F-35 strike originated from a questionable source but it may still be accurate.  The F-35 story originated with. Kuwaiti newspaper suspected of essentially being a mouthpiece of the Israeli government.

As for range being a problem that is a bit trickier.  The only figures for the range of the F-35 come from the American airforce and they very well may be lying about its actual range opting to give a range significantly shorter then what it can truly do.  On top of that the Israeli F-35s are not regular F-35s but ones that have been modified at the request of the Israeli government in some nondisclosed way.

[+and-then]

26 minutes ago, DarkHunter said:

The report of an F-35 strike originated from a questionable source but it may still be accurate.  The F-35 story originated with. Kuwaiti newspaper suspected of essentially being a mouthpiece of the Israeli government.

As for range being a problem that is a bit trickier.  The only figures for the range of the F-35 come from the American airforce and they very well may be lying about its actual range opting to give a range significantly shorter then what it can truly do.  On top of that the Israeli F-35s are not regular F-35s but ones that have been modified at the request of the Israeli government in some nondisclosed way.

If they limited the load-out to a single missile or bomb then I guess they could use auxiliary drop tanks and jettison them as the approached the Iranian border.

[Grim Reaper 6]

1 hour ago, and then said:

If they limited the load-out to a single missile or bomb then I guess they could use auxiliary drop tanks and jettison them as the approached the Iranian border.

@DarkHunter  Drop tanks for these aircraft are an option, but not the only option. Below is information that was taken from the following Link: https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/israels-f-35-stealth-fighters-can-strike-iran-any-moment-94486

"Israel is also developing two different sets of external fuel tanks to extend the F-35’s range. The first will be non-stealthy 425-gallon underwing tanks developed by a subsidiary of Elbit—these could be dropped when approaching enemy airspace (the pylons holding the drop tanks would reportedly detach as well so as not to compromise stealth), or used for missions in which stealth isn’t necessary. Further down the line, IAI wants to co-develop with Lockheed bolt-on conformal fuel tanks which “hug” the F-35 airframe so as not to compromise stealth and aerodynamics.

However, Israeli aircraft would have to fly through Turkey, or either Jordan and Syria and then Iraq to reach Iranian aerospace over six hundred miles away—and remember, key targets will likely be much further from the border. This also happens test the range limit of most combat-loaded fourth-generation fighters, meaning they would need conspicuous aerial tankers to make the raid viable. Furthermore, Israeli warplanes would have to disable or destroy Iranian air defenses, which would require additional time and aircraft.

Israeli jets violated Turkish airspace in 2007 in order to destroy a nuclear reactor in northern Syria. However a sustained air campaign traversing foreign airspace would be more difficult to execute than a one-time raid. However, the F-35 has a greater combat radius than most fourth-generation jets, due to its inability to carry extra fuel tanks without compromising stealth. Furthermore, it could more easily penetrate Iran’s air defenses, and evade detection by neutral countries, than fourth-generation jets, lowering the necessary size of a strike package.

Peace hope this helpful

 

[Grim Reaper 6]

2 hours ago, DarkHunter said:

The report of an F-35 strike originated from a questionable source but it may still be accurate.  The F-35 story originated with. Kuwaiti newspaper suspected of essentially being a mouthpiece of the Israeli government.

As for range being a problem that is a bit trickier.  The only figures for the range of the F-35 come from the American airforce and they very well may be lying about its actual range opting to give a range significantly shorter then what it can truly do.  On top of that the Israeli F-35s are not regular F-35s but ones that have been modified at the request of the Israeli government in some nondisclosed way.

These aircraft were actually modified by Israel, and here is link that explains some of those modifications.  https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/israels-f-35-stealth-fighters-can-strike-iran-any-moment-94486

Peace

[DarkHunter]

Middle east intelligence officials are now telling the New York Times that Israel planted a bomb in the Natanz facility.  Seems members of the IRGC who were briefed on it are seemingly saying the same thing.

[+and-then]

https://www.jns.org/following-explosions-tehran-could-respond-make-mistakes-says-ex-israeli-defense-official/

[RoofGardener]

On 7/6/2020 at 1:49 AM, DarkHunter said:

Middle east intelligence officials are now telling the New York Times that Israel planted a bomb in the Natanz facility.  Seems members of the IRGC who were briefed on it are seemingly saying the same thing.

Even with external drop tanks, the F-35 doesn't have the ability to get halfway to Isfahan. And if it was using mid-air refueling, it would have to refuel over Iraq... and EXTREMELY dodgy undertaking. 

Plant a bomb ? Hmmm... how on EARTH would Israeli agents get that far into Iran ? Isfahan is something like 750km from the Iraqi border. 

[+and-then]

11 hours ago, RoofGardener said:

how on EARTH would Israeli agents get that far into Iran ?

Why would agents HAVE to travel that far?  I suspect there is a large and growing number of Iranians that would be quite happy to help Mossad get this done.

[DarkHunter]

11 hours ago, RoofGardener said:

Even with external drop tanks, the F-35 doesn't have the ability to get halfway to Isfahan. And if it was using mid-air refueling, it would have to refuel over Iraq... and EXTREMELY dodgy undertaking. 

Plant a bomb ? Hmmm... how on EARTH would Israeli agents get that far into Iran ? Isfahan is something like 750km from the Iraqi border. 

The F-35 bombing has always been unlikely but it's not strictly impossible.  The Natanz facility is approximately 2,000 km away from Israel and the F-35 does have a maximum range of 2,800 with a combat radius of 1,239 km.  Also Israel does have the delilah cruise missile with a range of 250 km.  It would definitely be pushing the limits of what the F-35 can do but in theory if Israel wasnt expecting to fight and was just launching a standoff weapon and refueled over the Persian gulf or Saudi Arabia the F-35 could probably make it.

As for planting a bomb, which is the most likely by far, I'm guessing the same way Mossad agents got into a warehouse in Tehran, cut through safes, and carried away a half ton of Iranian nuclear documents in one night without getting caught.

[Eldorado]

Seven ships ablaze in latest Iran mystery fires

BBC: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-53417227

[RoofGardener]

On 7/15/2020 at 10:01 PM, Eldorado said:

Seven ships ablaze in latest Iran mystery fires

BBC: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-53417227

Yeeeees.... umm.. it is reported that these where WOODEN ships.... traditional Dhows ? 

NO great mystery; someone was careless with paint and varnish, one ship caught fire, and it spread to the others. 

No Israeli F35's or Mossad Agents where harmed in the making of this movie !