News - Middle East: Iranian Oil Minister Javad Owji says a "terrorist sabotage" attack has targeted two main gas transmission pipelines in the country’s southwestern province of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari as well as the southern province of Fars, causing a massive explosion and a subsequent fire.

Speaking on the sidelines of a cabinet session in the capital Tehran on Wednesday, Owji said that groups of saboteurs blew up the transmission lines in several locations at around 1 a.m. local time on Wednesday (2130 GMT Tuesday).

He went on to note that the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) has well managed to bring the situation under control since early hours of the day.

“Personnel at oil and gas installations had already been put on high alert. We knew that enemies would attempt to create challenges for the [Iranian] nation in the wake of recent regional developments and mass turnout of people in rallies marking the 45th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution,” Owji said.

The Iranian oil minister highlighted that repair work on the affected pipelines is underway, and hopefully the flow on the pipelines will resume in less than 12-14 hours.

The terrorist attack on Iran’s major gas transmission lines comes as anti-Iran media outlets had been suggesting assaults on the Iranian energy sector over the past few months, and some US Senators had even called for the bombing of Iran’s oil and gas infrastructure.

Last year, US Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, suggested the US should threaten Iranian oil infrastructure if the conflict between Israel and Palestinian resistance group Hamas continues to escalate.

“If there is an escalation in this conflict, if hostages start getting killed, if Hezbollah in the north attacks Israel in strength, we should tell Iran we will destroy your oil refineries and your oil infrastructure,” Graham said in an interview on NewsNation’s “The Hill.”

“We will put you out of business. Without money coming from Iran and weapons coming from the Iranians, Hamas will be nothing. Hezbollah will be nothing,” Graham asserted.

Meanwhile, Saeed Aqli, the head of dispatching operations at the NIGC, said that the act of terror struck the transmission lines in Borujen County in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province.

He added that a crisis management session was convened shortly afterwards, with the Iranian oil minister, deputy oil ministers as well as senior security officials in attendance.

Aqli further noted that firefighting brigades could extinguish the blaze within hours and the work on repair of the transmission lines has just started, hoping that gas pumping would resume as soon as possible.

The head of dispatching operations at the NIGC also stated that no casualties were reported as a result of the attack.

He stressed that NIGC engineers have managed to keep the national gas grid stable, and continue gas transmission to all towns and villages in the two provinces.

Efforts are underway to distribute liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders among households, who have suffered gas outage as a result of the incident, Aqli said.

Source: Press TV