Pipeline explosion in Iran
Israel is behind explosions in two main gas pipelines in Iran earlier this week, the New York Times reported on Friday, citing Western sources, including a military strategist linked to Iran's Revolutionary Guards.
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The attacks led to disruptions in gas supply in several Iranian provinces, affecting millions of residents.
The attacks attributed to Israel, according to the sources, represent a significant shift in the shadow war Israel and Iran have been waging in the air, on land, at sea and in cyberspace over the years.
Israel is reported to have long targeted military and nuclear sites within Iran, even assassinating Iranian nuclear scientists and commanders both inside and outside the country.
Cyberattacks believed to be carried out by Israel have aimed to disable servers belonging to Iran's Ministry of Petroleum.
According to the report, officials and analysts said that the attack on the country's energy infrastructure, relied on by industries, factories and millions of civilians, marked an escalation in the covert war and appeared to open a new frontier.
“The enemy's plan was to completely disrupt the flow of gas in winter to several main cities and provinces in our country," Iran's oil minister, Javad Owji, told Iranian media on Friday.
Owji, who had previously referred to the blasts as "sabotage and terrorist attacks,” stopped short of publicly blaming Israel or any other culprit. But he said that the goal of the attack was to damage Iran's energy infrastructure and stir domestic discontent
The Western sources and the Iranian military strategist said that the attacks required deep knowledge of Iran's infrastructure and careful coordination, especially since two pipelines were simultaneously hit in multiple locations.
Western officials said that Israel caused another explosion on Thursday at a chemical plant on the outskirts of Tehran, shaking the entire area. However, local sources claimed the explosion at the plant resulted from an accident in the plant's fuel tank.
Now, Western sources say, Israel has struck within Iran's borders with back-to-back explosions, unsettling the Iranians.
In September, Mossad chief David Barnea issued an unusual public warning that “any harm” Israelis or Jews “by Iranian proxies or weapons” would lead to retaliation deep within Iran.
“It will lead to action directed at whoever sent the terrorists on their mission, whether it be the lowest ranking operative or the highest ranking decision maker. I mean what I say," Barnea told the annual Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT) conference at Reichman University.