Iran charged Monday that its arch-enemy Israel was behind an attack on its Natanz uranium enrichment plant and vowed it would take "revenge" and ramp up its nuclear activities.

The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) said a "small explosion" had hit the plant's electricity distribution centre Sunday in what the foreign ministry called an Israeli act of "terrorism".

The latest of a string of incidents hitting Iran's nuclear programme came days after talks resumed in Vienna to salvage the battered 2015 Iranian nuclear deal that former US president Donald Trump abandoned.

His successor Joe Biden wants to revive the accord between Iran and six world powers, which places limits on Tehran's nuclear programme in return for relief from punishing economic sanctions.

Israel strongly opposes the nuclear deal and has vowed to stop Iran from building an atomic bomb -- a goal Tehran has always denied pursuing.

Iran initially reported a power blackout had hit the Natanz site Sunday, a day after it announced it had started up advanced uranium enrichment centrifuges banned under the deal.

Israel did not claim responsibility for the incident, but unsourced media reports in the country attributed it to the Israeli security services carrying out a "cyber operation".

The New York Times, quoting unnamed US and Israeli intelligence officials, also said there had been "an Israeli role" in the attack in which an explosion had "completely destroyed" the power system that fed the site's "underground centrifuges".

The White House Monday said the US "was not involved in any manner", in the attack.

"We have nothing to add on speculation about the causes or the impacts," Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters.

- Israeli 'terrorism' -

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while hosting US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin in Jerusalem, reiterated his stance that Israel will prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, without mentioning the Natanz incident.

"I will never allow Iran to obtain the nuclear capability to carry out its genocidal goal of eliminating Israel, and Israel will continue to defend itself against Iran's aggression and terrorism," he said Monday.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Khatibzadeh vowed that Iran's response to the Natanz incident would be to take "revenge on the Zionist regime" when and where Tehran chooses.

"Of course the Zionist regime, with this action, tried to take revenge on the people of Iran for their patience and wise attitude regarding the lifting of sanctions."

AEOI head Ali Akbar Salehi said "this incident was certainly sabotage", state news agency IRNA reported.

In a separate report, Fars news agency quoted Salehi as saying "the damaged centrifuges will be replaced with even more powerful" ones.

In a related incident, AEOI spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi had an accident Sunday while inspecting the site when he "fell from a few meters and suffered light fractures on his feet and head", IRNA reported.

Kamalvandi gave a video interview from his hospital bed Monday to the Tasnim news agency in which he voiced confidence that after the "small explosion... they can quickly repair the damaged areas".

- Avoiding 'trap' -

Tehran has blamed Israel for previous attacks on its nuclear facilities and experts -- including the killing last November of its top nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.

Natanz was the site of a previous incident in July, during which a building was damaged, and some Iranian media also blamed Israel.

Israel and Iran have long fought a shadow war, with Israel often striking Iran-allied forces in war-torn Syria. And since March, both countries have accused each other of a number of maritime attacks.

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Tehran would not allow the Natanz attack to affect the Vienna talks. Iran must avoid "falling in the trap" set by Israel, he told parliamentarians.

Russia said it was closely following what it called a "serious incident" and "if it is confirmed that someone's malicious actions are behind this incident, then such intent deserves strong condemnation".

Germany, a partner to the nuclear accord, warned that the "development in Natanz" was "not a positive contribution" to the negotiations.

Qatar denounced "a dangerous act of sabotage that would increase tension and negatively affect the security and stability of the region".

The European Union said it "rejects any attempts" to undermine the Vienna talks and stressed the "need to clarify the facts" over the incident.

Meanwhile, the EU on Monday added eight Iranian security officials, including the chief of the powerful Revolutionary Guards, and three notorious prisons to a sanctions blacklist over a 2019 protest crackdown in the Islamic republic.

Iran responded by declaring it would cease all talks with the bloc on human rights and all "cooperation resulting from these talks... especially in (the fields of) terrorism, drugs and refugees".

Iran: Attacks on nuclear programme
Tehran (AFP) April 12, 2021 - Iran, which on Monday accused Israel of being behind an attack on its Natanz uranium enrichment plant, has over the past decade seen its controversial nuclear programme targeted many times.

Here is a recap of attacks the Islamic republic often blames on intelligence services in Israel and the United States:

- Cyberattacks -

In 2010, a powerful computer virus called Stuxnet attacked Iran's nuclear facilities in an apparent bid to set back the country's atomic programme.

Stuxnet affected the functioning of Iranian nuclear sites, infecting several thousand computers and blocking centrifuges used for the enrichment of uranium.

Tehran accused Israel and the US of being at the origin of the virus.

Since Stuxnet, Iran on the one side and Israel and the United States on the other have regularly accused each other of cyberattacks.

- Iranian scientists slain -

In January 2010, Massoud Ali Mohammadi, a renowned particle physics professor at Tehran University, was killed when a booby-trapped motorcycle exploded outside his home in the capital.

Several leaders and official media in Iran quickly blamed the attack on Israeli and US intelligence services.

Two scientists with key roles in the Iranian nuclear programme were targeted in Tehran in November 2010 by two bomb attacks that Iran blamed on Israel and the US. One of the scientists, Majid Shahriari, was killed.

Between 2010 and 2012, at the height of the crisis with world powers over Iran's nuclear programme, a total of four Iranian scientists were assassinated in Tehran, with Iran accusing the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Israeli spy service Mossad of being behind the killings.

In November 2020, Iran blamed Israel for being behind the assassination of one of its most prominent nuclear scientists, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who headed its defence ministry's reasearch and innovation organisation. He was identified after his death as a deputy defence minister.

- Explosions -

In November 2011, an explosion in a munitions depot of the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in a Tehran suburb killed at least 36 people, including General Hassan Moghadam, who was in charge of weapons programmes for Iran's ideological army.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the US and Israel had led the operation against the Iranian nuclear programme.

In July 2020, an explosion damaged a facility making advanced centrifuges in Natanz in central Iran.

Authorities initially said the incident was an accident, but said several weeks later that it was "sabotage".

Russia hopes Natanz 'incident' will not 'undermine' Iran talks
Moscow (AFP) April 12, 2021 - Russia's foreign ministry said Monday it hoped a power outage at Iran's Natanz uranium plant, which Tehran denounced as an attack by Israel, would not "undermine" progress on nuclear talks.

The Natanz site near Tehran was hit by a power outage on Sunday, a day after Iran said it started up advanced uranian enrichment centrifuges in breach of a hobbled 2015 agreement on curbing the country's nuclear ambitions.

On Monday, Tehran labelled the power outage "terrorism" and blamed it on arch-enemy Israel.

The Russian foreign ministry said in a statement that it was closely following the situation surrounding the "serious incident".

"If it is confirmed that someone's malicious actions are behind this incident, then such intent deserves strong condemnation," it said.

The ministry added that it is "alarming how this situation" could affect talks in Vienna on reviving the deal, which are set to resume Wednesday.

The signatories to the accord, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), are trying to keep it alive after former US president Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew in 2018 and reimposed sanctions on Iran.

"We hope that what happened will not become a 'gift' to the assorted opponents of the JCPOA and will not undermine the consultations that are gaining momentum... to revive these agreements," the Russian foreign ministry said.

Moscow has pushed for Washington and Tehran to return to the deal, which Israel strongly opposes.

EU 'rejects any attempts' to undermine Iran nuclear talks
Brussels (AFP) April 12, 2021 - The European Union on Monday warned against attempts to derail talks aimed at returning the United States to the Iran nuclear deal, after Tehran accused Israel of an attack on its main Natanz site.

EU spokesman Peter Stano said the reported incident "could have been an act of sabotage" but insisted that there had been no official attribution over who was responsible.

"We still need to clarify the facts in detail as quickly as possible," he said, adding: "We reject any attempts to undermine or weaken diplomatic efforts on the nuclear agreement."

The Natanz site near Tehran was hit by a power outage on Sunday that Iran labelled "terrorism", a day after officials announced the country had started up advanced uranium enrichment centrifuges.

Negotiators in Vienna are trying to find a way to return the United States to the 2015 pact with world powers aimed at curbing Iran's nuclear ambitions, after former president Donald Trump withdrew.

The EU's mediator on Friday described the talks as "constructive", as those involved look to persuade Washington to drop sanctions reimposed by Trump and for Tehran to roll back breaches of the deal.

New US President Joe Biden has said he wants to revive the agreement, which places limits on the Islamic republic's nuclear programme in return for relief from biting economic sanctions.

Israel strongly opposes the deal and has vowed to disrupt any efforts by Iran to build an atomic bomb -- a goal Tehran has always strongly denied pursuing.

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Iran starts up advanced centrifuges in nuclear deal breach
Tehran (AFP) April 10, 2021
Iran announced Saturday it has started up advanced uranium enrichment centrifuges in a breach of its undertakings under a troubled 2015 nuclear deal, days after the start of talks on rescuing the accord. The United States had said Friday that it had offered "very serious" ideas on reviving the hobbled agreement but was waiting for Tehran to reciprocate, something Saturday's move signally failed to do. President Hassan Rouhani inaugurated a cascade of 164 IR-6 centrifuges for producing enriched u ... read more