• Israel sabotaged two major Iranian gas pipelines, said a New York Times report.

• “It’s a major reputation blow for Iran’s intelligence and security agencies,” said an analyst.

• The attacks suggest covert networks operating in Iran linked to Israel, an analyst said.

Israel appears to have conducted covert attacks on two major natural gas pipelines inside Iran this week, disrupting heat and cooking gas supplies in several provinces, The New York Times reports.

The sabotage marked an escalation in the shadow war between Israel and Iran, said the report.

“This shows that the covert networks operating in Iran have expanded their target list and advanced beyond just military and nuclear sites,” Shahin Modarres, a security analyst focused on the Middle East, told the Times. “It’s a major challenge and reputation blow for Iran’s intelligence and security agencies.”

While Israel has targeted military and nuclear sites in Iran before, this attack hit the Islamic Republic’s vital energy infrastructure.

“The level of impact was very high because these are two significant pipelines going south to north. We have never seen anything like this in scale and scope,” said Homayoun Falakshahi, a senior energy analyst at Kpler, per The Times.

Iran’s oil minister acknowledged the attacks but stopped short of publicly blaming Israel, stating the goal was to damage Iran’s energy infrastructure and stir domestic discontent.

A military strategist linked to the Revolutionary Guards Corps said the attacks required deep knowledge of Iran’s infrastructure and careful coordination, suggesting insider collaboration, per the Times.

The sabotage caused significant disruption, affecting residential homes, government buildings, and major factories in at least five provinces.

“The enemy’s plan was to completely disrupt the flow of gas in winter to several main cities and provinces in our country,” Iran’s oil minister, Javad Owji, told Iranian media on Friday, per the Times.

However, Iran’s energy minister claimed minimal disruption and service restoration, contradicting reports of widespread outages.

Israel and Iran’s conflict has heated up as Israel continues its military campaign in Gaza against Hamas. The Palestinian militant group is supported by Iran, say reports.

Last month, it was reported that Iran had accused Israel of killing a spy chief and 3 of its top Revolutionary Guards in Syria, further destabilizing the Middle East.

Israel has a policy to neither confirm nor deny allegations of assassinations or strikes against Iran, so they did not comment at the time.

It remains unclear whether Israel employed drones, explosives, or other means in the attack.

Repairing the pipelines would require shutting off the gas and replacing the damaged pipes, which could take days.

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