Zarif also explained how sanctions had forced Iran to rely on intermediaries., which created serious security vulnerabilities that were subsequently allegedly exploited by Israel.

Mohammad Javad Zarif blamed the sanctions on his country for allegedly facilitating Israel, and linked the issue to the Israeli operations in Lebanon

Mohammad Javad Zarif, who was foreign minister when Iran and world powers agreed to the 2015 nuclear deal and is now vice president for strategic affairs, alleged in a recent interview that Israel once planted explosives in Iranian centrifuge equipment,

‘Israel tried to do the same trick with our uranium enrichment centrifuges as it did with Hezbollah's pagers, but we managed to detect the explosives in time’.’ This statement was made by Iranian Vice President and former Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.