It is not yet clear who is behind the attack. The American newspaper The Wall Street Journal Writes Based on conversations with US government officials familiar with the attack, Israel carried out the attack. Iran has historically accused this enemy of planning and carrying out attacks using agents on Iranian soil.
Tehran said in July it had arrested a sabotage team. It consisted of Kurdish fighters working for Israel who planned to blow up a “sensitive” defense industrial center in Isfahan. An Israeli military spokesman declined to comment when asked about Israel’s involvement in the attack.
Talks between Tehran and world powers to revive the 2015 nuclear deal stalled in September. In that agreement, from which the United States withdrew in 2018, Iran agreed to limit its nuclear production in return for sanctions relief. After the US withdrawal, Iran began enriching uranium to concentrations higher than what was needed for power generation.