Iran accuses Israel of blowing up natural gas pipeline in sabotage attack, provides no evidence
Iranian officials accused Israel on Wednesday of carrying out a sabotage operation that blew up a natural gas pipeline last week.
Iranian Oil Minister Javad Owji provided no evidence for his claim, but told Iranian state news that the attack was the latest in a series of Israeli efforts to destabilize Iranian infrastructure.
"The explosion of the gas pipeline was an Israeli plot," Owji said. "The enemy intended to disturb gas service in the provinces and put people’s gas distribution at risk."
"The evil action and plot by the enemy was properly managed," he added.
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Israel has not commented on the Iranian gas pipeline explosions.
The blasts on Feb. 14 hit a natural gas pipeline running from Iran’s western Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province up north to cities on the Caspian Sea. The roughly 1,270-kilometer (790-mile) pipeline begins in Asaluyeh, a hub for Iran’s offshore South Pars gas field.
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Owji has also compared the attack to a series of mysterious and unclaimed assaults on gas pipelines in 2011 — including around the anniversary of Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution.
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"The goal that the enemies were pursuing were to cut the gas in the major provinces of the country and it did not happen," Owji said last week. "Except for the number of villages that were near the gas transmission lines, no province suffered a cut."
Meanwhile, Israel has carried out attacks in Iran that have predominantly targeted its nuclear program. The head of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog warned earlier this month that Iran is "not entirely transparent" regarding its atomic program, particularly after an official who once led Tehran’s program announced the Islamic Republic has all the pieces for a weapon "in our hands."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.