October 11-13
Iran announced Sunday that it has arrested four people in the act of trying to sabotage one of Iran’s nuclear installations.
This was very different from the frequent announcements of arrests of spies. These were described as saboteurs. Rarely has Iran ever claimed to have captured such people.
The arrests were announced by Ali-Akbar Salehi, who shifted from foreign minister to chief of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran after the election of Hassan Rohani as president.
But Salehi provided few details.
He did not name those arrested or even indicate if they were Iranians or foreigners.
He did not say when they were arrested, just saying it wasn’t in the last few days.
He did not say what installation they were trying to sabotage, just that it was nuclear.
He did not say where they were arrested. However, he said they had been uncovered earlier and were under surveillance and allowed to get close to their target before the arrests were made.
He did not say in whose employ they were working, but used terminology that suggested to listeners he was accusing Isarel of putting the men up to the sabotage. ‘‘Hostile countries are not interested in finding a way out of the current situation and they are trying to block an agreement on the nuclear case though acts of sabotage,’’ Fars quoted Salehi as saying. But Salehi failed to explain how an act of sabotage would impact talks with the Big Six.
Iran has accused the US of links to past cyber attacks on its nuclear program, but Salehi linked the latest alleged plot to those opposing Tehran’s outreach to Washington.
Later, Salehi told state TV that authorities had foiled ‘‘several cases’’ of similar sabotage attempts in the past ‘‘two or three weeks.’’ He did not elaborate. But the picture of multiple bands of saboteurs running around the country struck many as Hollywoodish and brought into question the vague story of the band of four nabbed in the act.
Talks over Iran’s nuclear program are scheduled to be held October 15-16 in Geneva.