soccer THE FIRST ENGLISH LANGUAGE DAILY IN FREE KUWAIT golf Pages 14 & 16 Established in 1977 / www.arabtimesonline.com Page 16 TUESDAY, APRIL 13, 2021 / RAMADAN 1, 1442 AH emergency number 112 NO. 17662 16 PAGES 150 FILS Ramadan Kareem ACTION UNLIKELY TO IMPEDE BIDEN BID TO ENGAGE TEHRAN Iran pins Natanz sabotage on Israel Pentagon chief declares ‘ironclad’ US commitment to Israel DUBAI, April 12, (AP): Iran blamed Israel on Monday for a sabotage attack on its un- set off a fire while a spokesman mentioned a “possible minor explosion.” The attack further strains relations between the US, which under President Joe Biden is now negotiating in Vienna to re- derground Natanz nuclear facility that damaged its centrifuges, an assault that imperils enter the nuclear accord, and Israel, whose Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to stop the deal at all costs. ongoing talks over Tehran’s tattered nuclear deal and brings a shadow war between the Netanyahu met Monday with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, whose arrival in Israel coincided with the first word of two countries into the light. the attack. The two spoke briefly to journalists but took no questions. “My policy as prime minister of Israel is clear: I will never allow Iran to obtain the nuclear capability to carry out its Israel has not claimed responsibility for the attack. It rarely does for operations carried out by its secret military genocidal goal of eliminating Israel,” Netanyahu said. “And Israel will continue to defend itself against Iran’s aggression and units or its Mossad intelligence agency. However, Israeli media widely reported that the country had orchestrated terrorism.” a devastating cyberattack that caused a blackout at the nuclear facility. At an earlier news conference at Israel’s Nevatim air base Monday, Austin declined to say whether the Natanz attack could While nature of the attack and the extent of the damage at Natanz remains unclear, a former Iranian official said the attack impede the Biden administration’s efforts to re-engage with Iran in its nuclear program. “Those efforts will continue,” Austin said. The previous Ameri- can administration under Donald Trump had pulled out of the Opinion nuclear deal with world powers, leading Iran to begin abandoning its limits. Details remained scarce about what happened early Sun- Dismantle terror day at the facility. The event was initially described only as a blackout in the electrical grid reactors in Iran feeding above-ground work- shops and underground enrich- ment halls - but later Iranian officials began referring to it as By Ahmed Al-Jarallah an attack. Editor-in-Chief, the Arab Times A former chief of Iran’s para- THE recent incident that transpired in Iran’s military Revolutionary Guard nuclear facility proves right the warnings is- said the attack had also set off sued in the past years regarding the fragil- a fire at the site and called for ity of its security and safety systems. This improvements in security. In a tweet, Gen Mohsen Rezaei said raises serious concerns about how disastrous that the second attack at Natanz it would be for both human beings and the in a year signaled “the serious- environment of the region if a serious acci- ness of the infiltration phenom- dent occurs in this facility. enon.” Rezaei did not say where The Mullahs’ persistence on challenging he got his information. the international community by continu- “The answer for Natanz is to ing its nuclear program is in fact terrorism take revenge against Israel,” Iran against humanity and human existence, not Foreign Ministry spokesman just a challenge or a peaceful program as Saeed Khatibzadeh said. “Israel claimed by the leaders of the peacock vanity will receive its answer through in Iran. its own path.” He did not elabo- There is no doubt that the admission of rate. the Head of the Atomic Energy Organiza- Khatibzadeh acknowledged tion Ali Akbar Salehi that, “The mysterious that IR-1 centrifuges, the first- incident that occurred on Sunday morning generation workhorse of Iran’s at the Natanz uranium enrichment facility uranium enrichment, had been was intentional. It was an outrageous move damaged in the attack, but did and we condemn nuclear terrorism” affirms not elaborate. State television what all international organizations have has yet to show images from the been warning about. site. In case of any accident, there is no doubt Disarray that its effect will be more devastating than In this April 10, 2021 file photo, Muslims perform evening prayers at the Sunni shrine of Abdul-Qadir al-Gailani, ahead of the upcoming Muslim However, the facility seemed Ukraine’s Chernobyl incident. That is be- fasting month of Ramadan, in Baghdad, Iraq. Muslims are facing their second Ramadan in the shadow of the pandemic. Many Muslim majority to be in such disarray that, fol- cause the Iranian facilities are old, not sub- countries have been hit by an intense new coronavirus wave. (AP) lowing the attack, a prominent ject to the supervision of international orga- nuclear spokesman Behrouz Ka- nizations, and do not conform to acceptable malvandi walking above ground scientific and legal standards. Al-Suwait warns Speaker at the site fell 7 meters (23 feet) For this reason, a nuclear agreement be- through an open ventilation shaft tween Iran and the international community covered by aluminum debris, is no longer required based on the premise breaking both his legs and hurt- of submission to the international organiza- ing his head. tion. Rather, what is required is a complete MP urges PM to submit to grilling “A possible minor explosion dismantling of this program under the super- had scattered debris,” Kamalvan- vision of the United Nations. di said, without elaborating. In addition, such an international agree- By Saeed Mahmoud Saleh it does not serve its purpose. Iranian Foreign Minister Mo- Arab Times Staff He argued HH the Prime hammad Javad Zarif warned Na- ment should also ensure the cessation of all Minister was wrong when he Iranian research in this regard, especially KUWAIT CITY, April 12: MP tanz would be reconstructed with described himself as someone Day by Day more advanced machines. That since the policy pursued by the Mullahs Ahmed Mutei Al-Azmi urged who is not after senior posi- regime for 41 years has been based on the His Highness the Prime Minister would allow Iran to more quickly tions, considering the premier enrich uranium, complicating the principle of expansionism through terror- Sheikh Sabah Al-Khalid to stand remained in his office although OH, the Prime Minister of the ratio- tions by the Covid-19 pandemic. ism force, and the stirring of sectarian and on the grilling podium in order to nuclear talks. 38 MPs signed a no confidence nal government, I mean the govern- Your Highness, the Prime Minister, “The Zionists wanted to take creedal strife in the region, which, in other defend himself and reply to the ment of Kuwait, not the government do not justify your actions by referring motion against him and 31 MPs revenge against the Iranian peo- words, is tantamount to another hundred grilling motions filed against him. announced later that they do not of the ‘Wak-Wak’. Just look at what to the Constitution, the National As- Al-Azmi reminded HH the Saudi Arabia, the Emirates and all sembly, or the social media. It will be ple for their success on the path years of war sought by this backward re- want him to continue in his post. of lifting sanctions,” Iran’s state- gime. Prime Minister about his prom- He wondered about HH the other Gulf states, with the exception you alone who one day will be held ise to refrain from postponing the of Kuwait, of course, have done to accountable, and it will be then much run IRNA news agency quoted Undoubtedly, the first victim of the poli- Prime Minister’s justification for Zairf as saying. “But we do not cies of the political prostitution regime that grilling motions, requesting dis- save their economies. more severe than what is now. postponing the grilling motions Also look at what the whole world … Yet, tomorrow is just another allow (it), and we will take re- has prevailed for four decades is the Iranian cussion of the motions in a closed- for almost one and a half year as door session and referring the mo- has done to avoid or rather over- day. venge for this action against the people. It has reached the level where ac- the latter asserted that he is care- come the damage done to their na- Zahed Matar Zionists.” ceptance of its comeback to the international tions to the Constitutional Court ful about the citizens’ time. He or the parliamentary Legislative Officials launched an effort arena would mean acceptance of global ter- argued that if HH the Prime Min- Monday to provide emergency rorism, undermining of all agreements and and Legal Affairs Committee. ister is really careful about the He also affirmed support for power to Natanz, said Ali Ak- treaties, and encouragement for other rogue citizens’ time, he should not have bar Salehi, the head of Iran’s ci- the grilling motions against HH suspended the work of the execu- states to practice this type of destructive the Prime Minister, as well as Newswatch vilian nuclear program. He said policies. the motions which will be filed tive and legislative authorities for the sabotage had not stopped In confirmation, we note that the current against any minister. three months. He added the pre- enrichment there, without elab- direct and indirect negotiations between He called on his colleagues to mier is the last one in Kuwait to orating.