Berlin: According to renowned American investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, the US carried out a covert operation to destroy the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines because it didn't believe that Germany would take a hard line against Russia.

The energy conduits were severely damaged by several explosions in September 2022, and last week, he published a shocking report that blamed Washington for the attacks.

Hersh claimed that the Ukraine conflict "was not going well for the West" in an interview that was published by the Berliner Zeitung on Tuesday, suggesting that Washington carried out the sabotage.

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He continued by saying that Nord Stream 2 "was suspended by Germany itself, not by international sanctions, and the US was concerned Germany would lift sanctions because of a cold winter."

Hersh claims that the bombs were detonated in June 2022 while NATO naval drills were taking place in the Baltic Sea. "But the White House became anxious at the last minute. The President claimed that he was hesitant to act. To have the option to remotely detonate the bombs at any time, he issued new orders after changing his mind.

In explaining potential motivations for the attacks, Hersh suggested that while the White House was more concerned with politics, some Americans believed the operation would "give the American economy a long-term boost."

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He claimed that they had been "always obsessed with re-election, and they wanted to win the war... they wanted Ukraine to somehow magically win."

In a series of underwater explosions on September 26, Nord Stream 1 and 2, which connected Germany and Russia under the Baltic Sea, were damaged. A report by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Hersh accusing the US of carrying out the attack was published on February 8. The White House denied the claim, calling it "complete fiction" and "utterly false."

But at a press conference with Germany's chancellor in early February 2022, about two weeks before the Ukraine conflict started, Biden declared that "if Russia invades... we will bring an end" to Nord Stream 2.

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Following the publication of the information, Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary for the Kremlin, demanded "an open international investigation into this unprecedented attack," noting that Russia is currently experiencing "attempts to silently wind down" such investigations.