Report: Israel recruited 10 Iranian nuclear scientists to sabotage Natanz facility

The explosion at the Natanz nuclear facility earlier this year was a Mossad-led operation that used multiple Iranian nuclear scientists who agreed to help destroy the centrifuge facility, the Jewish Chronicle reports, citing unnamed sources with knowledge of the matter.

The Chronicle says the scientists, up to 10 of them, were not aware they were working for Israel, but rather believed they were assisting international dissident groups.

It says the explosives used in the attack were smuggled in through various means, including in a catering truck and in packages dropped by a drone and collected by the accomplices inside the facility.

The Natanz uranium enrichment facility buildings are pictured some 200 miles (322 km) south of the capital Tehran, Iran, on March 30, 2005. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

“The scientists’ motivations were all different,” an unnamed source told the paper. “Mossad found out what they deeply wanted in their lives and offered it to them. There was an inner circle of scientists who knew more about the operation, and an outer circle who helped out but had less information.”

He added that the scientists were all taken to safety after the attack and are safe.

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