Iran Blames "Nuclear Terrorism" For Incident At Natanz Enrichment Site

China, Russia, the European Union, Iran and the U.S. will reconvene for the next round of talks in the Austrian capital on April 14.

Iran's top atomic official said an incident at the country's largest uranium enrichment facility was an act of "nuclear terrorism" by opponents of talks between the Islamic Republic and world powers to revive a landmark 2015 accord. Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said the disruption at the Natanz facility that's home to thousands of gas centrifuges, showed there was an attempt to thwart both Iran's atomic progress and the ongoing diplomacy in Vienna, state TV reported. He didn't elaborate, but in the past Iran has largely blamed Israel for attacks on its nuclear infrastructure and the killing of prominent Iranian atomic scientists. The Israeli government opposes the 2015 nuclear deal and doesn't want the U.S. to lift sanctions on Tehran without a new deal that addresses its ballistic missiles and regional proxy forces that have fought Israel. The two countries have in recent weeks accused each other of targeting their shipping.