Iran cries terrorism after explosions occurred in its main gas pipeline network

Without naming any suspects, the Iranian oil minister told state TV that sabotage was the reason behind two explosions that occurred Wednesday along Iran’s main south-north gas pipeline network. Additionally, according to state media, authorities refuted reports that the incident resulted in gas shortages for offices and industries in certain provinces. “This terrorist act of sabotage occurred at 1 a.m. (9.30 p.m. GMT) on Wednesday morning in the network of national gas transmission pipelines in two regions of the country,” said Energy Minister Javad Owji. Gas outages were only occurring in the villages close to the damaged pipeline, which will be repaired later today, according to Owji. According to state media, temporary limitations had been scheduled in advance for maintenance. Owji pointed to a similar incident which took place in 2011, which he said was an act of sabotage that caused temporary gas outages in four different regions in the country. While such attacks are rare in Iran, Arab separatist militants in Iran claimed in 2017 that they had blown up two oil pipelines in coordinated attacks in the country’s western Khuzestan province. In December, Iran executed five people whom it accused of being saboteurs with links to Israel’s Mossad intelligence service in a decades-long shadow war that has seen Tehran accuse Israel of attacks on its nuclear and missile efforts, charges the latter has never confirmed or denied. with inputs from Reuters