JERUSALEM - A series of mishaps at Iranian nuclear facilities and weapons sites may be part of a covert organized attack on Iran's nuclear weapons program, according to Western intelligence officials.
An explosion last week outside Iran's third-largest city, Isfahan, is thought to be the most recent strike, though details on the intended target are still unclear. A sprawling military base and nuclear facilities are outside Isfahan, and intelligence officials across the Middle East said there was strong evidence that the explosion had done some "significant structural damage."
The second such incident in as many weeks cast doubt on Iranian claims that these were "accidents" and "coincidences," and it set off speculation of a coordinated attack by Israel, whose officials long have threatened a strike against Iran's nuclear program. Israeli officials denied direct involvement, but the growing number of mysterious or unexplained blasts and deaths has many suspecting an official program of sabotage.
Israeli newspapers declared last week that Israel's war with Iran already had begun, but that the Jewish state, rather than launch massive airstrikes, had decided on a method of covert action in cooperation with other groups. Statements by current and former Israeli officials were being parsed for clues but did little to clarify the issue.
"There aren't many coincidences, and when there are so many events there is probably some sort of guiding hand, though perhaps it's the hand of God," said Israel's former head of internal security, Maj. Gen. Giora Eiland.
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said: "We are not happy to see the Iranians move ahead on this (program), so any delay, be it divine intervention or otherwise, is welcome."
Barak said earlier this week that Israel "has no intention, at the moment, of taking action, but Israel is far from being paralyzed by fear." He added, "It must act calmly and quietly. We don't need big wars."
Still, some say it's unlikely that Israel could - or would - act alone. Opposition groups in Iran have long been suspected of strikes to weaken the regime, while Israeli officials have said they would act with U.S. support.
The sites in Iran that have been damaged would appear to be significant targets.
The nuclear facilities in Isfahan are involved in converting yellowcake into uranium hexafluoride gas, a key step in producing enriched uranium. Two weeks ago, an explosion at a missile base west of Tehran killed more than 20 members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, including Cmdr. Hassan Moghaddam, described as the architect of Iran's missile program.
These, experts note, are only the most recent cases; a half-dozen other mysterious explosions and accidental deaths have been reported over the last two years. They include an October 2010 explosion at a military base housing Shahab-3 missiles near the city of Khorramabad and the July 2011 assassination of nuclear scientist Dariush Rezaei in Tehran.
Stuxnet, a computer virus that wreaked havoc on the centrifuges in Iran's uranium enrichment facilities, has rewritten the playbook for international cyber-terrorism.
