Dutchman Sabotaged Iran’s Nuclear Program’ Causing Turmoil
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
AMSTERDAM/TEHRAN/JERUSALEM (Worthy News) – The Netherlands faces political turmoil after information leaked that a Dutch engineer was named as the person responsible for sabotaging Iran’s nuclear program shortly before he died in Dubai.
Erik Van Sabban was involved in the mission as early as 2005, according to several sources cited by the Dutch newspaper-of-record de Volkskrant (’The People’s Paper’).
The Dutch two main intelligence agencies, the Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD) and the Military Intelligence and Security Service (MIVD)– working in conjunction with the CIA and Mossad – recruited the infiltrator for the sabotage operation, the paper reported.
His technical knowledge, contacts, and the fact he was married to an Iranian woman whose family was in Iran made him a perfect candidate, said sources familiar with the case.
Sabban reportedly unleashed the Stuxnet virus in Iran’s nuclear weapons program at the highly secretive Natanz nuclear facility in 2008 as part of a secret Israeli-American mission.
The malware is a malicious computer program that attacks widely used industrial control systems produced by the German company Siemens AG, experts said.
It exploits security vulnerabilities in the Microsoft Windows operating system for computers and could be used as an espionage or sabotage tool.
UNDERMINING PROGRAM
Sabban’s action effectively incapacitated Iran’s nuclear program at the time. He is believed to have left Iran immediately after completing his mission, shortly before his death.
Sabban died two weeks later in a motorcycle crash in Dubai, where he was living at the time. Volkskrant journalists concluded, after speaking with people present at the accident scene, that there “were no indications of foul play.”
At the time, it was believed that an Iranian engineer had carried out the operation.
After years of investigation and based on conversations with dozens of people involved, Volksrant is now naming Sabban as the saboteur.
It has led to tensions with former MIVD agency head Pieter Cobelens condemning the article for alleged bias and leaking state secrets. “It is a biased story. Intelligence agencies never operate without political oversight,” he told the Dutch commercial television network SBS6.
“Two ministries lead the two intelligence agencies,” he told SBS6 talkshow De Oranjewinter (‘The Orange Winter’).
The Dutch government and the confidential political committees, usually informed about general and military intelligence actions, allegedly did not know about Sabban’s virus attack.
SOMEONE LEAKING
“It could be possible that he was recruited for this job without Dutch intelligence services knowing about it,” Cobelens acknowledged. However, “if someone has been leaking” from, for instance, parliament’s Stiekem committee (‘Secret Committee’), it is a crime, he warned.
Several parliamentarians have demanded clarification about the operation, including why the government and parliament did not know about it. Cobelens expressed concerns about the security of those involved in intelligence as the Netherlands is effectively “in a state of war” against Iran and Russian
“The intelligence services are irritated about this operation being revealed. If states don’t talk with each other, they have to keep lines of communications open with, for instance, the Taliban [group ruling] in Afghanistan and [President] Vladimir Putin in Russia,” he said.
These people involved in such operations are in danger, Cobelens earned. “If they are successful, they drink perhaps a glass of wine and celebrate behind closed doors. But as soon as the doors open, they can’t talk with anyone about it, even not their wife.”
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