This may actually be a case of coincidental timing — but, then, as the days pass it could turn out that it is not:
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — An explosion was reported Wednesday in southern Iran near a nuclear power plant, with state-run media offering conflicting explanations for what happened, from blasting for dam construction, a fuel tank dropping from an Iranian plane, and friendly fire.
The explosion came as Iran’s intelligence chief accused the United States of flying spy drones over its nuclear sites and threatened to shoot down the aircraft. But a spokesman for Iran’s Interior Ministry said the blast was heard minutes after an Iranian airplane flew over the southwestern port town of Deylam, about 110 miles north of the nuclear plant, and had not been caused by a hostile attack.
A top security official said the blast came during construction of a dam, state-run television reported.
“The explosion that occurred in Deylam region was the result of detonating a path for dam-building operations,” Ali Agha Mohammadi, a spokesman of the Supreme National Security Council, was quoted as saying.
Mohammadi said Iran’s enemies were not in a position to attack Iran. “Such reports are mostly a psychological war,” he said.
Earlier, state television said the explosion may have been caused by a fuel tank dropping from an Iranian plane. Rescue teams were sent to the area, state-run al-Alam television said, without elaborating.
The Interior Ministry spokesman, Jahanbakhsh Khanjani, said there was a military base at Bushehr, and Iranian air force planes routinely fly in that area.
“There is a big possibility that it was a friendly fire by mistake. Several such mistaken friendly fire incidents have been reported there in recent days,” he said.
But then you have to look at the context. If today’s explosion damaged the nuclear plant in any way it could not come at a better time, from the U.S.’s perspective. Read this:
LONDON (Reuters) – Israel said on Wednesday arch-foe Iran was just six months away from having the knowledge to build an atomic bomb, as Tehran accused the United States of using satellites “and other tools” to spy on its nuclear sites.
The Israeli warning followed Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s call last week for Iran to abandon any pursuit of nuclear weapons and meet its international obligations if it was to be sure of avoiding conflict.
“The question is not if the Iranians will have a nuclear bomb in 2009, 10 or 11, the main question is when are they going to have the knowledge to do it,” Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said on a visit to London.
“We believe in six months from today they will end all the tests and experiments they are doing to have that knowledge.”
The chief of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency said in January Iran would have the capability to produce enriched uranium, which can be used in both power stations and nuclear bombs, by the end of 2005.
Iran’s Intelligence Minister Ali Yunesi on Wednesday again denied that his country’s civilian nuclear facilities were a cover for an atomic weapons program, saying U.S. satellites were spying on Iran but would find nothing as “we have nothing to hide.”
He could be right. (PS: Do you think the Easter Bunny will visit my house this year?)
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.