By Syed Zafar Mehdi
TEHRAN, Iran (AA) - Iran said Thursday it had thwarted an alleged sabotage attack orchestrated by the Israeli spy agency Mossad against the country's missile industry.
In an announcement on state TV, the Defense Ministry said the "biggest industrial sabotage" in the missile industry was "prevented and neutralized" by the ministry's intelligence unit.
"The intelligence unit of the Defense Ministry thwarted one of the largest sabotage plots targeting Iran's missile, aviation and airspace military industry," the state TV said, adding the plan was carried out "under the guidance of the Zionist intelligence services," referring to Mossad.
The ministry said the sabotage plot sought to introduce "defective parts" into the production of missiles with the help of a network of Mossad agents.
Citing an unnamed security official, Nour News, which is affiliated with Iran's top security body, said the country's missile industry has "always been the target of industrial sabotage" due to its "strategic effectiveness as a" deterrent against enemy threats."
The alleged sabotage plot, it said, was active over the past several months, and intended to introduce "defective parts" in the production of advanced missiles, but Iran's intelligence agencies were monitoring it.
A senior military official said that had the sabotage program not been discovered, it could have deactivated all missiles.
There was no Israeli comment on the Iranian claim.
Iran and Israel have been fiercest foes since the 1979 Iranian revolution and have often accused each other of sabotage activities.
Iran, for its part, has accused Israel of carrying out a series of sabotage attacks against its nuclear facilities in recent days besides targeted killings of top Iranian nuclear scientists.
In recent years, Tehran has ramped up not only its nuclear enrichment activities, but also made significant headway in the production of advanced missiles and drones.
Last month, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said during a visit to Azerbaijan that Israel had foiled more than 50 attempted attacks in recent years by Iran.
He said the recent defense budget includes billions of shekels meant to "prepare for every way we can prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon."