The Telegraph: Russia Warns of Meltdown at Iran's Bushehr Reactor

In an article in The Telegraph entitled "Stuxnet virus attack: Russia warns of ‘Iranian Chernobyl'" (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/8262853/Stuxnet-virus-attack-Russia-warns-of-Iranian-Chernobyl.html), Con Coughlin writes:

"Russian nuclear officials have warned of another Chernobyl-style nuclear disaster at Iran's controversial Bushehr reactor because of the damage caused by the Stuxnet virus, according to the latest Western intelligence reports.

. . . .

Bushehr is due to produce its first electricity for Iran's national grid this summer after Russian technicians started loading the first nuclear rods into the reactor last October.

Ali Akbar Salehi, Iran's foreign minister who also serves as head of the country's Atomic Energy Organisation, rejected suggestions earlier this month that the Bushehr opening schedule should be postponed. 'All the rumours related to the Westerners' claims that Stuxnet had caused damage to the nuclear plants are rejected,' he said.

However, Russian scientists working at the plant have become so concerned by Iran's apparent disregard for nuclear safety issues that they have lobbied the Kremlin directly to postpone activation until at least the end of the year, so that a proper assessment can be made of the damage caused to its computer operations by Stuxnet."

Perhaps you thought I was joking when I wrote in November:

"Will there be additional surprises awaiting this Iranian enterprise? Sadly, I have already expressed my regrets to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that I will not be able to attend the opening ceremony for the Bushehr power plant - if they ever decide they have removed all the bugs from the operational software - but will send Hugo Chavez in my stead, and when they press the button activating the reactor, I will be pleased to toast their success at a distance of several hundred miles from the meltdown."

http://jgcaesarea.blogspot.com/2010/11/stuxnet-shuts-down-iranian-centrifuges.html

No joke was intended, and I have cancelled my vacation plans in Iran . . .

The New York Times: A "Politically Confident" Iran

In an article appearing in today's New York Times entitled "Politically Confident, Iran Cuts Subsidies on Prices" (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/17/world/middleeast/17iran.html), William Yong writes:

"TEHRAN - After months of false starts, dire warnings and political wrangling, Iran has embarked on a sweeping program of cuts in its costly and inefficient system of subsidies on fuel and other essential goods that has put a strain on state finances and held back economic progress for years.

The government’s success in overcoming political obstacles to make the cuts and its willingness to risk social upheaval suggest that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad may have consolidated power after the internal fractures that followed his bitterly disputed re-election in 2009 — a development that some analysts believe could influence Iran’s position at nuclear talks in Istanbul this month."

A "politically confident" Iran? Yeah, right. That's why its per capita capital punishment rate is among the highest in the world. "Ahmadinejad may have consolidated power"? Is this another way of saying that many of his opponents are now languishing in Evin Prison?

According to this article written from Tehran, "the subsidy reforms could be a political victory for Iran’s new right wing — a success for Mr. Ahmadinejad where liberals, now almost entirely excluded from Iran’s political scene, had failed." Liberals have been "excluded" from Iran's political scene? That is a very kind way of putting it.

This article also states: "Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said recently that international sanctions had slowed Iran’s nuclear program". Oddly, this article never once mentions the Stuxnet worm (http://jgcaesarea.blogspot.com/2010/11/stuxnet-shuts-down-iranian-centrifuges.html), which has wrecked havoc with Iranian centrifuges.

Also no mention in this article of potential fallout from the forthcoming findings of the U.N. tribunal investigating the assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, which was undertaken with the approval of Tehran.

Stuxnet Shuts Down the Iranian Centrifuges

Yesterday diplomats informed the Associated Press in Vienna that Iran had been forced to shut down thousands of centrifuges enriching uranium, owing to the Stuxnet worm. Today, however, Iranian Vice President Ali Akbar Salehi claimed that no damage had been done to the Tehran's bid to become a nuclear power:

"Iran's nuclear chief said Tuesday that a malicious computer worm known as Stuxnet has not harmed the country's atomic program and accused the West of trying to sabotage it.

. . . .

Salehi said details about the virus became known only after Iran's 'enemies failed to achieve their goals.'

. . . .

'From more than a year ago, Westerners tried to implant the virus into our nuclear facilities in order to disrupt our activities but our young scientists stopped the virus at the very same spot they wanted to penetrate,' Salehi said in comments carried by state TV website."

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/news/article.aspx?feed=AP&date=20101123&id=12442638

Yet, as reported by this same Associated Press article:

"According to reports released by the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Iranian uranium enrichment capacity has stagnated in recent years after initial rapid growth. Tehran has taken hundreds of centrifuges off line over the past 18 months, prompting speculation of technical problems.

At the Natanz enrichment facility in central Iran, the number of operating centrifuges declined from 4,920 in May 2009 to 3,772 in September 2010, the IAEA said."

Earlier this month, Ralph Langner, the German computer security expert who first reported that the Stuxnet worm was designed to attack Iran's enrichment plants and the Bushehr nuclear power plant, marveled at the technical prowess of the Stuxnet worm:

"Langner said that the portion of the worm that targeted Uranium enrichment plants manipulated the speeds of mechanical parts in the enrichment process, which would ultimately 'result in cracking the rotor, thereby destroying the centrifuge.'

. . . .

Praising the sophistication of the attack code, Langner said, 'it is obvious that several years of preparation went into the design of this attack.' Describing the technological advancement it represents, he compared it to 'the arrival of an F-35 fighter jet on a World War I battlefield.' He called the technology, 'much superior to anything ever seen before, and to what was assumed possible.'"

http://www.jpost.com/IranianThreat/News/Article.aspx?ID=196051&R=R1

So do you believe Ali Akbar Salehi that no damage has been done to the Iranian nuclear effort, given the reputation of the Islamic Republic of Iran for honesty and morality?

Moreover, who do you think was responsible for sabotaging the Iranian nuclear effort? Although I don't have the answer, if you are among the cognoscente who read this blog, you are smart enough to figure this one out by yourself.

Will there be additional surprises awaiting this Iranian enterprise? Sadly, I have already expressed my regrets to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that I will not be able to attend the opening ceremony for the Bushehr power plant - if they ever decide they have removed all the bugs from the operational software - but will send Hugo Chavez in my stead, and when they press the button activating the reactor, I will be pleased to toast their success at a distance of several hundred miles from the meltdown.

Iran: Did Siemens Grow a Conscience?

In an interesting column in PajamasMedia entitled "Cyber War on Iran: the Siemens Connection", Roger L. Simon suggests that Siemens might have assisted Israel in infecting Iranian industrial facilities with Stuxnet. Mr. Simon writes:

"In all likelihood Israel did not act entirely alone — there were too many moving parts to this attack — and I am going now to suggest another ally — the German electronics giant Siemens AG."

http://pajamasmedia.com/rogerlsimon/2010/09/25/cyber-war-on-iran-the-siemens-connection/?singlepage=true

Again, it is of no interest to me who is ultimately responsible for the "deed". However, regarding Siemens, I would observe the following information from a Reuters January 2010 article:

"Siemens, which is Europe's biggest engineering conglomerate, was aware of the sensitivities attached to doing business in Iran, Chief Executive Peter Loescher said.

'Some time ago, we reduced our business activities with customers in Iran,' Loescher said, responding to questions at a shareholders meeting.

The Siemens board decided at the start of October not to agree to any further orders with customers in Iran, he added, noting, however, that existing orders would be fulfilled.

Loescher said there were still bids submitted by Siemens before October 2009. If they were not accepted, it would mean new business in Iran would end by mid-2010."

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE60P1LJ20100126?loomia_ow=t0:s0:a49:g43:r1:c1.000000:b30083910:z0

Or stated more simply, Siemens claims it is terminating its business with Iran, however, it also says that it will continue to fulfill existing orders, and, if its tenders submitted to Iran before October 2009 are accepted, these apparently will also be honored.

Thanks, Siemens, for your kind and very thoughtfully worded assurances.

Siemens, Iran, Stuxnet and a Second Holocaust: Dinner Invitation to Peter Löscher

The news organizations are abuzz with reports that a sophisticated computer worm, Stuxnet, has infected industrial plants across Iran. As reported today by David E. Sanger of The New York Times:

"Stuxnet, which was first publicly identified several months ago, is aimed solely at industrial equipment made by Siemens that controls oil pipelines, electric utilities, nuclear facilities and other large industrial sites. While it is not clear that Iran was the main target — the infection has also been reported in Indonesia, Pakistan, India and elsewhere — a disproportionate number of computers inside Iran appear to have been struck, according to reports by computer security monitors.

Given the sophistication of the worm and its aim at specific industrial systems, many experts believe it is most probably the work of a state, rather than independent hackers. The worm is able to attack computers that are disconnected from the Internet, usually to protect them; in those cases an infected USB drive is plugged into a computer. The worm can then spread itself within a computer network, and possibly to other networks.

. . . .

The fact that the worm is aimed at Siemens equipment is telling: the company’s control systems are used around the world, but have been spotted in many Iranian facilities, say officials and experts who have toured them. Those include the new Bushehr nuclear power plant, built with Russian help."

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/26/world/middleeast/26iran.html?_r=1&hp

Everyone is guessing who introduced the worm into the Iranian facilities. Personally, I am more troubled by the involvement of Siemens in the erection of these facilities.

Siemens is no ordinary company:

• Siemens funded the rise of the Nazi party.
• Siemens manufacturing facilities, built in close proximity to concentration camps, used slave labor during World War II.
• Siemens helped build V-2 rockets fired at England.

Sixty-five years after the end of World War II and the Holocaust, Siemen's equipment is being used by the nuclear development facilties of a country which is calling for Israel to be wiped off the face of the map.

Peter Löscher, President and CEO of Siemens, I would like to invite you for dinner with my family, and perhaps you would care to stare into my children's eyes and explain exactly why Siemens has sold equipment to Iran that is being used to realize that country's frightening nuclear ambitions.