Iran admits nuclear programme affected by sabotage

The admission from Iran's president suggests recent Stuxnet virus attack succeeded in disrupting centrifuges

Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told a news conference that some of the centrifuges used in its uranium enrichment programme were sabotaged, according to a BBC report.

Iran has previously denied that the Stuxnet virus had affected its nuclear programme, but these admissions seem to indicate that it was at least partially successful.

"They succeeded in creating problems for a limited number of our centrifuges with the software they had installed in electronic parts," Mr Ahmadinejad told a news conference.

The BBC report adds that the Stuxnet worm was designed to damage motors commonly used in uranium-enrichment centrifuges by sending them spinning out of control.

The sophistication of the code used in the attack has led some analysts to suggest that it must originate from another nation state, as the technology would be beyond most criminal groups.

Mr Ahmadinejad's statement was made on the same day that an Iranian nuclear scientist was killed and another wounded in two separate attacks in the capital.

The president accused Israel and the West of being responsible for the attacks.