TEHRAN — The Iranian intelligence ministry said Saturday that it made 30 arrests as it dismantled a network it accused of spying for the US on its basic infrastructure and its nuclear and defense research.
“Due to the massive intelligence and counterintelligence work by Iranian intelligence agents, a complex espionage and sabotage network linked to America’s spy organization was uncovered and dismantled,” a ministry statement read out on state television said.
It added, “Elite agents of the intelligence ministry, in their confrontation with the CIA elements, were able to arrest 30 America-linked spies through numerous intelligence and counterintelligence operations.”
The statement said the “network” operated in “a number of nations” under the command of “prominent intelligence officers” of the CIA.
“Under the guise of issuing student and work visas or permanent residency … they tried to trick citizens into spying for them,” the statement said.
The agents sought information from “universities and scientific research centers and in the fields of nuclear energy, aerospace, defense, biotechnology … detailed data on gas and oil pipelines, telecommunication networks, airport and customs and the security of the nation’s banking systems,” it added.
The statement said that the CIA officers handling the network operated out of “US embassies and consulates in a number of nations — namely, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and Malaysia.”
In the course of the operation, “not only has the heavy offensive by the Central Intelligence Agency been neutralized, but 42 CIA officers in different nations have been accurately identified by our intelligence,” it added.
Iran claimed several times in the past to have dismantled spy networks working for the US or Israel.
In January, the intelligence ministry said it arrested “spies and terrorists” linked to Israel’s Mossad overseas intelligence agency, which it accused of being behind the killing last year of Iranian nuclear scientist Masoud Ali Mohammadi.
Iran also previously accused the US and Israel of carrying out cyber attacks against its infrastructure, including its nuclear facilities.
Last year, it was hit by the Stuxnet computer worm — reportedly designed to target its nuclear program — which mutated and infected at least 30,000 pieces of computerized industrial equipment.
In December, Iran implicitly admitted that its uranium enrichment plant in the central city of Natanz, which is regularly inspected by the UN nuclear watchdog, was a victim of the worm.
Last month, civil defense chief Gholam Reza Jalali said that Iran was hit by a new virus, dubbed Stars, although he did not say what kind of equipment it was targeting.