Iran Admits That Its Nuclear Program Was Penetrated By Western Intel Agencies

This is an interesting admission. Iran has admitted that Western spy agencies managed to coopt nuclear scientists and workers involved in Iran's nuclear programs. It said that those efforts have ended as a result of Iranian counterintel operations and arrests of those suspected of spying on the Iranian nuclear program.

Some of its workers at its nuclear facilities took bribes to pass secrets to Western officials, Iranian Vice President Ali Akbar Salehi said Saturday.

The explosive admission comes on the heels of arrests made by the Islamic nation of several alleged spies, along with a computer virus, which Iran said was part of a conspiracy to doom its controversial nuclear program.

Salehi, however, said an uptick in security will put an end to the spying.

"The possibility of information leaking is almost impossible now," Iran's Fars news agency quoted Salehi as saying.

He did not say what information may have been leaked by the alleged spies.

The U.S. has spent several years fighting Iran's buildup of nuclear materials and technology with economic embargoes imposed by the United Nations, despite Iran's claims that its nuclear program will only be used for civilian purposes.

The vice president, who also heads Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, said the agency hands out booklets to workers that "spell out precautionary measures to protect (information) and the life of scientists" from Western spies, Fars reported.