South Africa Concerned About Incident At Natanz Nuclear Facility - Foreign Ministry

JOHANNESBURG (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th April, 2021) South Africa is concerned about the possibility of outside involvement in last week's incident at Iran's Natanz nuclear facility and hopes that it would not undermine the nuclear talks in Vienna, the country's Department of International Relations and Cooperation said on Friday.

On Sunday, Iran reported an incident at Natanz that damaged the plant's electricity grid in what the country's vice president and atomic energy chief, Ali Akbar Salehi, described as "nuclear terrorism." Kazem Gharib Abadi, the Iranian permanent representative to the UN in Vienna, blamed the attack on Israel.

"The South African Government has noted, with concern, the incident at the Natanz nuclear facility in Iran on 11 April 2021 and the possibility of external factors that may have caused it," the ministry said in a statement.

South Africa also noted the timing of the incident, which coincided with the talks on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in Vienna.

"South Africa hopes that the discussions will focus on the full and effective implementation of the agreement and not to be overshadowed by any implications and consequences of the recent incident at the Natanz nuclear facility," the statement read, urging for the continuity of the momentum created at the talks.

The JCPOA Joint Commission resumed in-person meetings in Vienna last week, with the first meeting resulting in the creation of two expert-level working groups to address the nuclear-linked challenges and the lifting of US sanctions against Iran.