'Iran discovered listening device near nuclear site'
Iranian Revolutionary Guards found monitoring device disguised as rock near Fordow nuclear site, 'The Sunday Times' reports.
By JPOST.COM STAFFInterior of Bushehr nuclear plant 370(photo credit: REUTERS/Stringer Iran)
The Iranian Revolutionary Guards discovered an electronic monitoring device near the Fordow nuclear site in northern Iran last month, The Sunday Times reported Sunday, citing western intelligence sources.Soldiers were checking on communications terminals at Fordow when they discovered a rock, according to the report. When the soldiers attempted to move the rock, it exploded, presumably self-destructing.The device was reportedly capable of intercepting data from computers in Fordow. The Iranians did not report the discovery, according to the Times.Iran uses the Fordow facility to enrich uranium to a fissile concentration of 20 percent, the part of its work that most worries the West as it takes it significantly closer to the 90 percent level needed for bombs. It built the site some 80 meters below rock and soil to better protect it against enemy strikes.Click here for full Jpost coverage of the Iranian threatLast week, Iranian atomic energy organization chief Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani admitted that power lines between Qom and the Fordow facility had been blown up on Aug. 17.Explosives were used to cut the electricity power lines to Iran's Fordow underground enrichment plant last month in an apparent attempt to sabotage Tehran's atomic advances, its nuclear energy chief said.It was believed to be the first time Iran has mentioned the incident.He also told the annual member state gathering of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that "the same act" had been carried out on power lines to Iran's main enrichment plant near the central town of Natanz, without giving a date.Abbasi-Davani made clear his view that sabotage would not be successful in slowing Iran's nuclear program, which the West suspects is aimed at developing an atomic bomb capability but which Tehran says is purely peaceful.
Meanwhile, Iranian lawmaker Alaeddin Boroujerdi accused German company Siemens of sabotaging its nuclear program on the weekend, Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA) reported.According to the news agency, citing Boroujerdi, Iranian security experts discovered small explosives embedded in equipment Tehran bought from Siemens for its nuclear program.DPA quoted Boroujerdi as claiming, “the equipment was supposed to blow up after installation in order to destroy our [nuclear] systems.”Siemens immediately dismissed the allegations, with DPA quoting company spokesman Alexander Machowetz as saying, “we have no business dealings related to the Iranian nuclear program.”
