Tehran, IRNA — Iran successfully foiled a plot by the Israeli regime to damage the natural gas transmission pipelines in southern and central parts of the country earlier this month, the country’s Oil Minister Javad Owji has said.

Owji said on Wednesday that gas pipelines affected by the sabotage operations were mostly located in mountainous and hard-to-reach regions, adding that they had been repaired in the shortest time possible. 

He said that those behind the attack on gas pipelines had been seeking to cut off gas supplies in big provinces of Iran.

The minister said it had taken no longer than two hours for technicians and rescue teams to repair the pipelines. 

Owji said that no major gas cuts has been reported anywhere in the country due to the incident. 

Authorities said at around 1 a.m. local time (21:30 GMT) on February 14 that two “acts of sabotage” had hit natural gas pipelines in Boroujen, in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province, and in Safashahr in Fars province.

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