In 2006, US and Israeli intelligence asked their Dutch counterparts for help in weakening Iran’s nuclear program using a computer virus. Only now it became clear that Dutch intelligence had not informed the country’s prime minister about the involvement of a Dutch civilian in the intelligence operation.
Nearly 20 years ago, the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Israel’s Mossad decided to undermine Iran’s nuclear program using a specially designed computer virus called Stuxnet. The computer virus cost two billion dollars to develop, but American and Israeli spies did not know how the virus would penetrate the software of Iranian nuclear facilities, the Times writes.
The solution was found in the form of Dutch civil engineer Erik Van Stabben. Van Stabben had 12 years of experience working in the Gulf states, including Iran, where her husband was from. Since 2005 Van Stabben has collaborated with the Dutch intelligence agency MIVD/AIVD.
In 2006, American intelligence asked its Dutch counterparts for help in stopping Iran’s nuclear program. At the end of 2008 the plan was successfully implemented: Van Stabben participated in the installation of water pumps at the Iranian nuclear plant. The water pumps’ software contained a virus developed in the United States and Israel.
Yet Dutch spies say they did not know exactly what Van Stabben’s role would have been.
“The Americans took advantage of us. It was an act of war [Iraani vastu],” a Dutch intelligence official told the Volkskrant newspaper, which revealed Van Stabben’s involvement in the intelligence operation on Monday.
After installing the water pumps, Van Stabben panicked and quickly left Iran, although it is not known whether he himself was aware of the operation. Just two weeks after leaving Iran, on January 16, 2009, Van Stabben died in a car accident.
“He paid a high price,” the intelligence official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Dutch intelligence suspected that it might not just be a road accident.
However, the civil engineer’s family insists that there is no evidence of murder.
The revelations could cause a scandal in the Netherlands, since Jan Peter Balkenende, who at the time of the intelligence operation held the position of Prime Minister of the Netherlands, was completely unaware of it. The intelligence agency explained that politicians are usually not briefed on intelligence operations in the Netherlands.
“I think the prime minister should have been informed of the possible geopolitical consequences,” former senior Dutch official Wim Kuijken told the newspaper.
2024-01-09 05:39:00
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