On June 23, 2021, a building belonging to AEOI (Iranian Atomic Energy Organization) came under sabotage attack according to the Iranian state media. The attack occurred near Karaj, 40 kilometers west of Tehran. In the last months, Iran has experienced a series of suspected sabotage attacks targeting its nuclear program.

There were no casualties or damage as it “foiled” the attack before it could cause “any damage to the building” the state television reported.

Earlier, the Iranian media reported that a production line of Iran’s domestically produced COVID-19 vaccine Baraket had come under a drone attack, but the reports were later dismissed.

Mostafa KHOSCHESM, a senior Iranian journalist and political commentator wrote on Twitter that the US and Israel “apparently mean to send a message to Iran“. “They might not know, but they have picked a correct enemy at a correct time,” he wrote.

This incident came a day after websites of Iran’s state-owned international broadcasters, Press TV and Al-Alam, were taken down by the US Department of Justice for alleged “violations of US sanctions“.

This is not the first sabotage attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities. In the past Natanz nuclear plant, Isfahan province came under a series of attacks.

In 2020, Natanz suffered an explosion at its advanced centrifuge assembly plant that the authorities described later as sabotage. Iran now is rebuilding that facility deep inside a nearby mountain.

Iran described it as an act of “nuclear terrorism” and pointed the finger at Israel. Javad ZARIF the Iranian Foreign Minister said that Tehran will “take revenge” for the attack. New advanced centrifuges had been activated there a day before the attack.

Iran also blamed Israel for the November killing of a scientist who began the country’s military nuclear program decades earlier.

Tensions in the region have escalated amid the collapse of the deal that granted Iran sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program.

In 2018, then-President Donald TRUMP pulled the US unilaterally out of the nuclear deal, setting off a series of incidents that threatened the wider Mideast.

This article was edited using the data from Aljazeera.com, Indianexpress.com, Dw.com, Aa.com.tr and, English.aawsat.com