Iran: 'Massive cyber attack' detected on nuclear facilitiesTehran blames US, Israel, Britain after talks fail
Iranian Presidential Website / Reuters, file
By Zahra Hosseinian
Iran has detected a planned "massive cyber attack" against its nuclear facilities, state television said on Thursday, after talks with major powers this week failed to resolve a row over Tehran's disputed nuclear activities. Iran's Intelligence Minister Heydar Moslehi said the country's arch enemies the United States and Israel, along with Britain, had planned the attack. "Based on obtained information, America and the Zionist regime (Israel) along with the MI6 planned an operation to launch a massive cyber attack against Iran's facilities following the meeting between Iran and the P5+1 in Moscow," Iran's English-language Press TV quoted him as saying. "They still seek to carry out the plan, but we have taken necessary measures," he added, without elaborating. Security experts said last month a highly sophisticated computer virus, dubbed "Flame", had infected computers in Iran and other Middle Eastern countries. Iranian officials were quick to say the country had defeated the virus, capable of snatching data and eavesdropping on computer users. It was not clear if the cyber attack referred to by Moslehi was "Flame", or a new virus.
Iran's
nuclear
Iran has been locked in a row for nearly a decade with Western
countries over its disputed
nuclear
Tehran denies the charge, saying it only wants peaceful nuclear technology to generate. Earlier this month current and former U.S. officials said the United
States under
former
President
George
W.
They said President Barack Obama accelerated the efforts after succeeding Bush in 2009. World powers and Iran failed to secure a breakthrough at talks on Tehran's nuclear program in Moscow on Tuesday, despite the threat of a new Middle East conflict if diplomacy collapses. After two days of talks, European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said significant differences remained and the two sides had agreed only on a technical follow-up meeting in Istanbul on July 3. Tehran has repeatedly said that as a member of the
nuclear
Non-Proliferation
"If the other side agrees to recognize Iran's (nuclear) rights based on international regulations, Iran is ready to negotiate anything," Ali Akbar Velayati, an adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency on Thursday.
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