Iran's Atomic Energy Organization said on Sunday that "sabotage" was the cause of an explosion that damaged the Natanz nuclear facility last month.
"Security investigations confirm this was sabotage and what is certain is that an explosion took place in Natanz," said spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi.
"But how this explosion took place and with what materials... will be announced by security officials in due course," he was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA.
Iran said after the July 2 incident that it had determined its cause but declined to release details due to "security concerns".
Natanz governor Ramezan-Ali Ferdowsi said a fire had broken out at the site, but the country's atomic agency said it caused no casualties or radioactive pollution.
At the time, IRNA published an editorial warning Iran's arch-foes against hostile actions, saying unnamed Israeli social media accounts had claimed the Jewish state was behind it.
The incident came six days after an explosion near a military complex rocked Tehran.
The blast in the Parchin area southeast of the Iranian capital was due to "leaking gas tanks", the defence ministry said.
The Islamic republic resumed uranium enrichment at the Natanz complex, in central Iran, in September last year.
The move came after the United States unilaterally withdrew in 2018 from an international accord that gave Iran relief from sanctions in exchange for curbs on its nuclear programme.
Tehran has always denied its nuclear programme has any military dimension.
IAEA head to make first visit to Iran on Monday
Vienna (AFP) Aug 22, 2020 - The head of the UN atomic watchdog will to go Tehran on Monday for meetings with senior Iranian officials aimed at improving cooperation on Iran's nuclear activities, the IAEA said.
The visit comes amid tensions between the US and its European allies over Washington's bid to maintain an arms embargo on Iran and reimpose UN sanctions dating back to 2006.
It will be the first visit to Iran by Rafael Mariano Grossi since he became director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency in December.
The IAEA said in a statement on Saturday that Grossi will address Iran's cooperation with the agency and in particular access for its inspectors to certain sites.
"My objective is that my meetings in Tehran will lead to concrete progress in addressing the outstanding questions that the agency has related to safeguards in Iran and, in particular, to resolve the issue of access," he said.
"I also hope to establish a fruitful and cooperative channel of direct dialogue with the Iranian Government which will be valuable now and in the future."
His visit takes place shortly before a September 1 meeting in Vienna of the joint commission on the landmark 2015 deal between Iran and global powers that aims to prevent Tehran from developing a nuclear bomb.
The US and European nations are at loggerheads after Washington began the process Thursday of activating a controversial mechanism aimed at restoring UN sanctions on Iran.
Britain, France and Germany rejected the move, saying it frustrated their efforts to salvage the 2015 accord that US President Donald Trump pulled out of two years ago.
Washington controversially maintains it has the right to force the reimposition of sanctions through the agreement's "snapback" mechanism despite its withdrawal.
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US to trigger controversial 'snapback' of Iran sanctions at UN
Washington (AFP) Aug 19, 2020
President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will activate a controversial mechanism aimed at reimposing UN sanctions on Iran, escalating a row with European allies that has huge repercussions for the Iranian nuclear deal. Pompeo will travel to New York on Thursday to notify the United Nations Security Council that the US is triggering the so-called "snapback" procedure, which Britain, France and Germany say it doesn't have the right to do. "It's a snapback, not ... read more
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