There was no immediate claim to responsibility or comment from Iran. But on Saturday, the hard-hitting newspaper Kayhan in Iran published an opinion piece by Iranian analyst Sadollah Zarei, suggesting that Israel’s Dimona plant be targeted after the attack on Natanz. Zarei mentions the idea of ”an eye for an eye” in his remarks.
Action must be taken against the nuclear facility in Dimona, he wrote. “This is because no other action is on the same level as the Natanz incident.”
It is widely believed that the Dimona reactor is the center of an unexplained nuclear weapons program. Israel does not confirm or deny that it has a large nuclear arsenal.
While Kayhan is a small newspaper, the editor-in-chief, Hossein Shariatmadari, has been appointed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and has been described as an adviser to him in the past.
Zarei had earlier demanded retaliatory attacks on Israel. In November, he suggested that Iran strike the Israeli port city of Haifa over Israel’s alleged involvement in the assassination of a scientist who had created Iran’s military nuclear program decades earlier. Iran then did not retaliate.
Israel and Iran are arch-enemies. Israel accuses Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons and opposes US leading efforts to revive the international nuclear deal with Iran. With Israel’s encouragement, then-President Donald Trump withdrew from the agreement in 2018.
Iran has recently begun enriching a small amount of uranium to 60% purity, the highest level ever for its program that could move even closer to arms degree levels. However, Iran maintains that the program is for peaceful purposes.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly said Israel will not allow Iran to develop a nuclear capability. Israel has twice bombed two Middle Eastern countries to target its nuclear programs.
All the incidents come as Iran negotiates with world powers in Vienna over the US, which could possibly re-enter its broken nuclear power agreement with world powers. Negotiators there have so far described the talks as constructive, although they acknowledge that the Natanz sabotage could hamper the talks.
The Israeli government says the agreement will not prevent Iran from developing a nuclear capability. It also says it does not address Iran’s long-range missile program and its support for hostile proxies in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza.
Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only and has called for more research into Israel’s nuclear power plant in Dimona.