World

Dutch Media Identify Person Behind 2007 Sabotage of Iranian Nuclear Program

THE HAGUE (Sputnik) - Dutch engineer Erik van Sabben played a crucial role in a clandestine US- and Israeli-led operation in 2007 to sabotage Iran's nuclear program by planting malware in control systems of an enrichment facility, Dutch newspaper Volkskrant reported on Monday, citing its two-year investigation.
Sputnik
The engineer sneaked into the nuclear facility in the Iranian city of Natanz and delivered the Stuxnet computer worm, which reportedly cost over $1 billion to develop, into the systems, the daily reported. The virus crippled Iran's nuclear program by damaging most of enrichment centrifuges.
The operation was initiated by the United States and Israel in 2004, but the Dutch government was kept in the dark about it, the report said.
Van Sabben, who worked as an engineer in a Dubai-based shipping company, was recruited in 2005, according to the report.
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In 2009, the engineer died in a motorbike crash, which his family and witnesses say was an incident. However, an anonymous source from the Dutch Military Intelligence and Security Service (MIVD) told Volkskrant that van Sabben "paid a high price" for what he did to Iran.
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