Death at Iran's Parchin military site caused by 'industrial sabotage'

Tehran says its nuclear programme is solely for peaceful purposes

The Parchin military complex south-east of Tehran in March 2021. Google Earth/ The Intel Lab

The death of an Iranian defence ministry engineer in May 2021 was caused by “industrial sabotage” at the site in Parchin near the capital, Tehran, an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander was quoted as saying on Monday.

In his comments to the semi-official Entekhab news agency, Hassani Ahangar did not say who was believed to be behind the sabotage.

“The martyr from the Ministry of Defence was himself not the target but was affected by an act of industrial sabotage. We must prevent such threats with artificial intelligence methods,” Mr Ahangar said.

“Engineer Ehsan Ghadbeigi was martyred and one of his colleagues was injured in an accident that took place in one of the Ministry of Defence's research units at the Parchin area on May 25 (2021),” Entekhab said.

Parchin is a sensitive military site housing several industrial and research units. Western security services believe Iran carried out tests relating to nuclear weapons detonations more than a decade ago.

Iran denies western claims that it is trying to build an atom bomb and says its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes.