Iran revealed for the first time Saturday that some personnel at the country's nuclear facilities were lured by promises of money to pass secrets to the West, but that increased security and worker privileges have put a stop to the spying.
The stunning acknowledgment by Vice President Ali Akbar Salehi provides the clearest government confirmation that Iran has been fighting espionage at its nuclear facilities.
In recent weeks, Iran has announced the arrest of several nuclear spies and battled a computer worm that it says is part of a covert Western plot to derail its nuclear program. And in July, a nuclear scientist who Iran says was kidnapped by US agents returned home in mysterious circumstances, with the US saying he was a willing defector who was offered $5 million by the CIA but then changed his mind.
Iran's semiofficial Fars news agency quoted Salehi as saying that some nuclear personnel had access to information about Iran's plans for "foreign purchases and commercial affairs."
"Now, these routes have been blocked. The possibility of information leaking is almost impossible now," Salehi was quoted as saying.
"Our colleagues were awakened. ... The personnel and managers have all reached the conclusion that this is a national issue and that we should ... resolve our problems among ourselves."
Saturday's revelation was the first public word that some personnel have engaged in espionage. With the announcement, Iran appears to be trying to raise public awareness about what it says are plots by the US and its allies to derail Iran's nuclear activities.
Salehi said access to information has been restricted within nuclear facilities as part of the increased security measures.
"In the past, personnel had easy access to information but it is not the case anymore now," Fars quoted him as saying.
Salehi said Iran's nuclear agency also published booklets for its personnel alerting them to the various techniques the West uses to try to lure them into espionage. The booklets "spell out precautionary measures to protect (information) and the life of scientists," he was quoted as saying.
"The issue of spies existed in the past but now we see that it is fading day by day."
More recently, nuclear intrigue has fallen on a complex computer worm that has swept through industrial sites in Iran and was also found on the personal laptops of several employees at Iran's first nuclear power plant.