ON APRIL 10th Iran had two occasions for cheer. One was the resumption of talks, earlier in the week, in Vienna to revive the multinational nuclear deal that Donald Trump, then America's president, abandoned in 2018. The other was the celebration of National Nuclear Technology Day, which featured performers dressed as nuclear scientists, huddled around centrifuges at Natanz, a facility in Isfahan province, singing paeans to Iran's scientific prowess. Iranian officials announced they had finally rebuilt part of the facility struck by a mysterious explosion last year. Then, on April 11th, the facility was struck again. This attack destroyed the power source for the centrifuges, which spin uranium to extract fissile isotopes suitable for use in reactors or, if concentrated enough, in bombs. Thousands of the machines were damaged. Iranian officials blamed Israel, claiming explosives were smuggled into Natanz inside a table. In contrast with previous incidents, Israeli officials acknowledged to reporters that Mossad, Israel's intelligence service, was indeed involved.
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