Iranian Officials Suspect Sabotage in String of Mysterious Fires

For more than two weeks, mysterious explosions and fires have erupted across Iran, setting ablaze apartment complexes and oil refineries, a road outside a major airport and even a shoe factory.

In public, Iranian officials have shrugged off the events as mere coincidence or blamed aging infrastructure, trying to soothe the frayed nerves of a population still traumatized by the country’s war with Israel and the United States in June.

But in private, three Iranian officials, including a member of the country’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, said they believed that many of them were acts of sabotage.

While Iran’s government has many enemies that would like to see it falter, the officials have trained their suspicions on Israel, pointing to its history of covert operations in Iran, including explosions and assassinations. And after Israel’s 12-day bombing campaign last month in Iran, a senior Israeli intelligence official had vowed to continue operating in Iran.

Read more: New York Times