2024-02-18 05:33:43
Israel may have secretly attacked two gas pipeline lines in Iran this week, sources told The New York Times.
As Day.Az reports with reference to RBC, on the night of February 14, as reported by the Mehr agency, an explosion occurred on the main line of the gas pipeline in the city of Borujen in southwestern Iran, followed by a fire. Gas supply was stopped in this part of the pipeline. Iranian Oil Minister Javad Ouji called the incident sabotage; the purpose of the attack, he said, was to damage the country’s energy infrastructure. “The enemy’s plan was to completely cut off gas supplies to several major cities and provinces in winter,” he said, but did not directly blame anyone.
According to NYT interlocutors, Israel is behind this attack. In addition, the West believes that the Israeli military is responsible for the explosion at a chemical plant on the outskirts of Tehran on February 15. Iranian officials said it was due to an accident.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office did not comment on the allegations.
The publication notes that the Israeli military has repeatedly struck Iran’s military and nuclear facilities and carried out cyberattacks against servers belonging to the Oil Ministry, which has caused riots at gas stations across the country. However, an explosion at such an energy infrastructure facility, on which industrial enterprises, factories and millions of civilians depend, indicates Israel’s escalation and departure from “secret war” tactics, the interlocutors believe.
One Western official noted that the attack on the gas pipeline was more likely to have a symbolic meaning, since it is relatively easy for Tehran to eliminate its consequences. At the same time, according to the interlocutor, Israel thus made it clear to Iran that it could cause damage to it if the conflict spreads to the entire Middle East. Tensions between the two countries have been rising in recent months; Tehran says it was not involved in the Hamas attack on Israel last October or the Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea.
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