Siemens accused of booby-trapping Iranian nuke equipment

Iran Says Nuclear Equipment Was Sabotaged

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran on Saturday accused the German technology company Siemens of planting tiny explosives inside equipment Iran bought for its disputed nuclear program, a charge Siemens denied.

Aladdin Boroujerdi, a prominent lawmaker, said Iranian security experts discovered the explosives and removed them before detonation. The authorities believe that the booby-trapped equipment was sold to derail uranium enrichment efforts, he said.

Siemens said its nuclear division had had no business with Iran since the 1979 revolution.

Any sale of nuclear equipment to Iran is banned under United Nations sanctions, raising the possibility that if the country indeed has some, it was acquired through third parties.

Mr. Boroujerdi did not say when or how Iran had obtained Siemens equipment. Despite a wide array of international sanctions, Germany remains one of Iran’s most important trading partners.

(More here.)