TEHRAN:
Iran said Thursday it had thwarted an alleged sabotage attack orchestratedby the Israeli spy agency Mossad against the country’s missile industry.
In an announcement on state TV, the Defence Ministry said the “biggestindustrial sabotage” in the missile industry was “prevented andneutralized” by the ministry’s intelligence unit.
“The intelligence unit of the Defence Ministry thwarted one of the largestsabotage plots targeting Iran’s missile, aviation and airspace militaryindustry,” the state TV said, adding the plan was carried out “under theguidance of the Zionist intelligence services,” referring to Mossad.
The ministry said the sabotage plot sought to introduce “defective parts”into the production of missiles with the help of a network of Mossad agents.
Citing an unnamed security official, Nour News, which is affiliated withIran’s top security body, said the country’s missile industry has “alwaysbeen the target of industrial sabotage” due to its “strategic effectivenessas a” deterrent against enemy threats.”
The alleged sabotage plot, it said, was active over the past severalmonths, and intended to introduce “defective parts” in the production ofadvanced missiles, but Iran’s intelligence agencies were monitoring it.
A senior military official said that had the sabotage program not beendiscovered, it could have deactivated all missiles.
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There was no Israeli comment on the Iranian claim.
Iran and Israel have been fiercest foes since the 1979 Iranian revolutionand have often accused each other of sabotage activities.
Iran, for its part, has accused Israel of carrying out a series of sabotageattacks against its nuclear facilities in recent days besides targetedkillings of top Iranian nuclear scientists.
In recent years, Tehran has ramped up not only its nuclear enrichmentactivities, but also made significant headway in the production of advancedmissiles and drones.
Last month, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said during a visit toAzerbaijan that Israel had foiled more than 50 attempted attacks in recentyears by Iran.
He said the recent defence budget includes billions of shekels meant to”prepare for every way we can prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.”ANADOLU AGENCY
