The International Atomic Energy Agency is investigating whether Iran hacked into its inspectors' computers and telephones, according to reports heard by senior Western diplomats. If confirmed, it would further strain relations between the Vienna-based UN body and Iran, following accusations by IAEA chief Yukiya Amano last year that Tehran was hampering its work in the country by barring some experienced inspectors.
It would "be a dramatic and troubling indication of Iranian disdain for its obligation to cooperate with the IAEA to resolve questions about its nuclear programme," one diplomat said, adding he believed a media story on possible hacking was true.
Another Western diplomat said: "I had heard that there had been some sort of interference in this kind of way with laptops and/or mobile phones and so on." UN inspectors have been probing Iran for years over suspicions that it may be seeking to develop nuclear arms - an allegation Tehran denies.
In Brussels, European Union diplomats said the bloc is expected to expand its sanctions significantly against Iran on Monday, reflecting growing frustration among Western powers with a lack of progress in nuclear talks with Tehran. The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that the UN nuclear watchdog was investigating whether Iran had succeeded in hacking into computers and telephones carried by IAEA inspectors while they were visiting nuclear sites in the Islamic state.
While it was unclear if Iran had succeeded in gaining any information, the paper said IAEA officials were concerned that it might have read confidential documents that would help it to identify and potentially punish people assisting the inspectors, or to evade the agency's probes.
Amano, asked at a news conference in Brussels if he could confirm the reports, said: "For the specific question that you ask me, I am not in a position to discuss it right now." "In general, the IAEA inspections should be done without any disturbance from the country that receives inspectors. We should be able to inspect everything without disturbance."
The Journal said the IAEA investigation focused on whether inspectors' telephone SIM cards, or other components, had been manipulated or replaced to allow conversations to be monitored. Iranian officials were not available for comment.
In September last year, Iran said two IAEA inspectors it banned from entering the country had provided false information about its nuclear work. Amano rejected the allegation and accused Iran of hindering the agency's work in the country. "In some areas our verification (inspection) goes smoothly, in other occasions we have some difficulties, so it is not an easy task," Amano said in Brussels on Thursday. "The refusal of the inspectors was one of the difficulties."
The IAEA has been investigating Western intelligence reports indicating that Iran has co-ordinated efforts to process uranium, test explosives at high altitude and revamp a ballistic missile cone to take a nuclear warhead. IAEA inspectors visit Iran regularly to monitor its atomic activities.