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18 September 2012

Iran’s Nuclear Chief: Explosive Materials Found in Centrifuges

The director of the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran (AEOI) says that in IAEA reports some sensitive information including the number of Iran's centrifuges has been published which gives information to whoever wants to sabotage Iran's nuclear facilities, IRNA reported.

Fereydoun Abbasi told reporters during the International Atomic Energy Agency's 155-nation general conference in Vienna that for instance "we found a tiny explosive material placed inside the vacuum equipment of a centrifuge, aimed to damage the centrifuge.

"Iran bought 200 vacuum items from overseas markets four years ago and the saboteurs waited until this equipment could be installed on the centrifuges," Abbasi added.

Iranian nuclear chief accused some European countries in providing "destructive" information together, without mentioning the name of those countries.

Several attempts to sabotage Iranian nuclear facilities have been reported so far, including cyber-attacks and malware. For instance, the Stuxnet virus attack was discovered in 2010 which reportedly targeted Iran's centrifuges.

Iran was charged by the International Atomic Energy Agency and some western countries over hiding its probable military related nuclear activities. Iran rejects the accusations.

So far the UN Security Council has adopted four rounds of sanctions against Iran. The U.S. and EU then slapped a tighter restrictive measure on the country.