An animated video showing a rocket launched at Israel's Dimona nuclear plant, with the sequence then turning into a hourglass, circulated on social media on Thursday, with users alleging that it was released by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The video starts with an Israeli flag, and then shows an overview of the Dimona nuclear facility, with the missile appearing from the sky and descending onto the plant.
The Dimona facility, located in the Negev desert, houses Israel's first nuclear reactor. The Shimon Peres Negev Nuclear Research Center is also based there, and Tel Aviv has long asserted that the reactor and the research facility are only used for research purposes in atomic science.
Earlier in April, a missile was launched from Syrian territory that landed in the vicinity of the Dimona nuclear facility - an attack that the Israeli military claimed was not targeting the nuclear development plant.
JUST IN - The Iranian Revolutionary Guards released an animated video showing a missile hitting at Israel's Dimona nuclear facility.pic.twitter.com/hd7PzvnrTn
— Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) May 6, 2021
While the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) launched an investigation into why the missile launched from Syrian territory was not intercepted by the country's air defense system, IRGC commander Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami listed the incident among other examples of why Tel Aviv's "national security bubble has burst".
“The Zionist regime’s biggest weak point is that whatever tactical measure on its part can also be a strategic defeat, meaning that the regime can be destroyed through just one operation,” he said, pointing at last month's explosion at an Israeli rocket factory, a reported attack on a Mossad office in Iraq and an oil refinery fire in Haifa in late April.
The Dimona animation, which has not yet been commented upon by Tel Aviv, comes one day after another video was broadcast on Iranian TV showing the dome of the US Capitol building exploding and hinting at "liberating" Jerusalem while picturing views of the Temple Mount.
Tensions between Iran and Israel have heated amid recent negotiations over a possible resurrection of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran nuclear deal. Tel Aviv opposes the restoration of the 2015 deal, claiming that Tehran is seeking to create nuclear weapons and poses a "threat" to Israel. The Islamic republic has consistently outlined that its nuclear program remains exclusively peaceful.
