Iran arrests ‘nuclear spies’

LONDON - Iran has arrested several “spies” who were involved in an attempt to sabotage the country’s nuclear programme, said Iranian intelligence minister Heydar Moslehi.

The arrest followed an attack on Iran’s industrial computer network by a software bug Stuxnet that targeted Iranian nuclear facilities, including its main Bushehr power plant, British newspaper The Guardian reported Sunday.

Iran had discovered the “destructive activities of the arrogant (western powers) in cyberspace” and “different ways to confront them have been designed and implemented”, The Guardian quoted Moslehi as saying.

The Stuxnet attack infected more than 30,000 computers in Iran. Suspicions have also been growing in recent days that the Stuxnet worm may have been designed as much to spy on the systems as to destroy them.

The minister said: “I assure all citizens that the intelligence apparatus currently has complete supervision of cyberspace and will not allow any leak or destruction of our country’s nuclear activities.”