Journalistic inquiry: How did the US and Israel sabotage Iran's nuclear program?
In 2008, the Dutch press conducted an investigation into how 36-year-old Dutchman Erik van Sabben became a participant in the US-Israeli sabotage of Iran's nuclear program. A journalistic investigation has revealed that Eric van Sabben injected the infamous Stuxnet virus into special software, causing massive damage to Iran's nuclear program, but died shortly afterwards in a car accident.
In 2008, a journalistic investigation conducted by the staff of the Dutch publication Volkskrant revealed how 36-year-old Erik van Sabben played a decisive role in the operation of the United States and Israel to destroy Iran's nuclear program.
According to the investigation, this person infiltrated Iran's nuclear complex and planted the famous Stuxnet virus, damaging the country's nuclear program. The Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD) hired the man, but the government was not informed, the Volkskrant reported after a two-year investigation into the sabotage.
A few years ago, the Volkskrant reported that the Dutch AIVD and military intelligence services had recruited spies to participate in this sabotage operation. But at that time they believed that he was an Iranian engineer. Meanwhile, the newspaper continued to investigate the case and interviewed dozens of people involved in the case, including 19 employees of the AIVD and the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
They told the newspaper that Van Sabben, a Dutchman, entered an underground nuclear complex in the city of Natanz and installed equipment infected with the sophisticated Stuxnet virus. According to the newspaper, more than 1 billion dollars were spent on the development of the software. This is believed to have caused the breakdown of a large number of nuclear centrifuges and delayed the nuclear program for several years.
No one knew that this new type of cyberweapon was used in practice in the Netherlands, Volkskrant writes. According to the journalists, the intelligence agencies knew that they were involved in sabotaging Iran's nuclear program, but they did not know that it was their agent who brought the virus. "The Americans used us," one intelligence source told the publication.
According to researchers, Van Sabben left Iran immediately after successfully sabotaging the country's nuclear program. Two weeks later, he died in a motorcycle accident near his home in Dubai. The Volkskrant spoke to people at the scene of the crash and was unable to find any evidence that the incident was staged. However, an anonymous employee of the AIVD told the newspaper that Van Sabben "paid a big fee" for his help.
According to the newspaper, Van Sabben was hired by the AIVD in 2005. His technical expertise and many contacts in the region, including his ties to Iran (he already did business in Iran and was married to an Iranian woman with relatives in the country), made him ideal for the mission.
A posthumous article in the UAE's The National newspaper praised van Sabben as an engineer who made significant contributions to the development of the Gulf state. In the article, it is noted that he visited many countries on a business trip, including Sudan, Yemen and East Africa, as well as Iran. According to the Volkskrant, van Sabben launched the virus at the Natanz nuclear complex during one such trip to Iran. The virus may be in the water pump van Sabben installed.
It is not known whether the Dutchman was aware of his role in the agent's operation, the Volkskrant writes.
Following the inquiry, several members of the Dutch parliament demanded an explanation of the operation, including why the government and parliament were unaware of it. According to an anonymous AIVD official, the government may have been deliberately withheld from the operation because of a potential political crisis.
