Iran says 'western plot' to blame for computer worm

Teheran's foreign ministry spokesman levels concrete accusations for the first time; says it won't make Iran "give up or stop" its nuclear activities.

By JPOST.COM STAFF, AP
Bushehr Plant 311 (photo credit: Associated Press)
Bushehr Plant 311
(photo credit: Associated Press)
Iran's foreign ministry spokesman is claiming that a computer worm found on the laptops of several employees at the country's nuclear power plant is part of a covert Western plot to derail the Iranian atomic program.
Ramin Mehmanparast says it won't make Iran "give up or stop" its nuclear activities. His remarks on Tuesday were the strongest yet on Tehran's suspicions over the worm.
RELATED:
Iran: We've learn how to fight Stuxnet computer wormColumn One: The lessons of StuxnetLast week, Iran's Intelligence Minister Heidar Moslehi was quoted as saying that authorities had arrested several nuclear spies, but he gave no details and it wasn't clear if the developments were related.
Moslehi did not reveal where or when the suspected spies were arrested, saying only that Iran has "always faced sabotage" by foreign intelligence services.
The malicious computer code, designed to take over industrial sites, has also emerged in India, Indonesia and the US.
Iran said the Stuxnet worm infected personal computers of Bushehr employees but not the plant's main systems.
On Monday, Iran's nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi attributed the problems causing a delay in starting up the nuclear reactor at Bushehr to a "small leak" and not the computer worm.
Salehi, who is also the Iranian vice president, said the leak in a pool near the reactor at the Bushehr plant has now been fixed. He also said the plant's systems were not affected.