Learning English

Natanz: Iran blames Israel

A cyber-attack on an underground nuclear site in Iran has caused damage to new advanced machines, known as centrifuges. They are used to enrich uranium, and had just been activated there. The Iranian foreign minister has blamed Israel, and said his country will "take revenge" on the perpetrators. Neil and Catherine have the vocabulary you need to talk about this story.

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The story

As soon as it emerged there had been some kind of problem at the Natanz facility, speculation arose as to what might have caused it.

Now the head of Iran’s atomic agency, Ali Akbar Salehi, has called it "nuclear terrorism" – saying that Iran reserves the right to take action against the perpetrators.

Key words and phrases

sabotage
deliberate destruction of something to prevent a competitor’s success

• The former leader set up a new party to sabotage his former colleagues’ attempt to win a majority.
• In an act of sabotage, I poured salt into my rival's cake in the baking competition.

outage
period when a service, often electrical, is not working

• All the clocks are wrong. There must have been an outage earlier.
• All these power outages are costing the economy millions.

ironclad
impossible to change or weaken; completely definite

• I felt better when he gave me an ironclad assurance he’d help me.
• Can you give me an ironclad guarantee that you won’t do that again?

To do

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