Iran admits some of its nuclear scientists spied for the West

A top-level Iranian government official has admitted that some scientists and technicians in Iran’s nuclear energy program were successfully lured into spying for Israeli and Western intelligence agencies in the past. The disclosure, which was characterized as “stunning” by the Associated Press, marked the first-ever open admission by the Iranian government that the country’s nuclear energy program has been penetrated by foreign spies. It was made last weekend by Ali Akbar Salehi, Iran’s Vice President and Director of the country’s Atomic Energy Organization. According to the Iranian government-controlled Fars News Agency, Vice President Salehi told an audience that individual scientists and technicians working in Iran’s nuclear program had used their access to classified relevant information to benefit from “foreign purchases and commercial affairs”. The Fars report was vague and made no specific reference to the nature of the compromised information or the precise timing of the alleged espionage. But it did note that Mr. Salehi made clear that, although “[i]n the past personnel had easy access to information”, this “is not the case anymore now”. More at:
http://intelligencenews.wordpress.com/2010/10/22/01-580/

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