Iran: Cyber foes caused centrifuge problems

Enemies of Iran used computer code to make "limited" problems for centrifuges involved in uranium enrichment at some of its nuclear sites, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Monday.

"They succeeded in creating problems for a limited number of our centrifuges with the software they had installed in electronic parts," he told reporters at a media conference, the first time Iran has said a cyberbug affected its centrifuges.

"They did a bad thing. Fortunately our experts discovered that and today they are not able (to do that) anymore," he said.

Iran temporarily halted most of its uranium enrichment work earlier this month, a UN nuclear watchdog report said last week, a few days after former IAEA chief Olli Heinonen said the Islamic Republic had had problems with the equipment used in the program for years and computer virus Stuxnet may be a factor.

In September Iran said that Stuxnet, which experts said may have been created by a state, did not affect Iran's nuclear plant or government systems but did hit computers of staff at the plant and Internet providers.

Stuxnet, a powerful example of the fastest-growing sort of computer bug – customized malware written specifically to attack a precise target, has attracted publicity through a presumed link to Iran.

Date for nuke talks

Ahmadinejad also said that his country had accepted a date for talks with the major powers. The six powers hope the talks - for which a date of December 5 was previously mooted - will focus on its disputed nuclear program, but Tehran has said its uranium enrichment activity will not be up for negotiation.

"Two dates have been proposed, they accepted one of them and we do not have any problem with that," Ahmadinejad told the news conference, adding that the venue was still under discussion.

In Moscow, the Ria News Agency quoted Iran's ambassador to Russia as saying the talks would be held on December 5 in Geneva. Iran had previously proposed Istanbul as its preferred venue.

Western diplomats and analysts do not expect any breakthrough soon in the long-running dispute over Iranian nuclear work the West fears is aimed at developing bombs but which Tehran says is designed to generate electricity only.

Ahmadinejad said Iran's uranium enrichment activities were the country's legal right and would not be negotiated away.

Enriched uranium can be used to fuel nuclear power plants but also provide material for bombs, if refined much further.

"The complete enrichment cycle and the production of fuel are basic rights of (IAEA, or UN nuclear watchdog) member states and are non-negotiable," Ahmadinejad said.

The powers want Tehran to curb the program in exchange for a package of trade and diplomatic benefits on offer since 2006.

"We will negotiate with each other about nuclear cooperation," Ahmadinejad said. "We have always been ready for nuclear cooperation but we will not enter negotiations over our obvious nuclear rights. We are now ready to talk about nuclear trade."

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