Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wears a protective face mask as he delivers a joint statement with US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in Jerusalem January 7, 2021. Photo: Emil Salman/Pool via REUTERS.

i24 News – Battling Iran is a colossal mission, yet one that saw Israel grow in stature into a global power, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday amid reports that the Mossad intelligence agency was behind the blackout at an Iranian nuclear plant.

Speaking at an event with the Israeli military’s top brass, Netanyahu said, “The battle against Iran and its proxies represents a colossal mission. That things are one way now doesn’t mean they will stay that way later on.”

“It’s very hard to explain what we have achieved here in Israel, going from total helplessness to being a global power,” Netanyahu added.

Netanyahu has, however, made no direct reference to the power failure at the Natanz nuclear plant, which Iran’s atomic energy organization said represented an act of “nuclear terrorism.”

Hebrew-language public broadcaster Kan was among the local outlets that reported that Israel was likely behind the incident, while Channel 13 cited “Western intelligence sources” as saying that a cyberattack by the Mossad security agency was behind the outage.

Israel, which has accused Iran of seeking to build nuclear weapons that could be used against it, made no official comment on the incident.