Dutch engineer behind failure of Iran's nuclear programme He paralysed it with malware

The Dutch newspaper Volkskrant has published the results of a two-year investigation into the situation around Iran's nuclear programme in 2007.

According to the Dutch engineer Erik van Sabben paralysed the programme using the Stuxnet virus under the leadership of the United States and Israel.  

As part of their investigation, Volkskrant journalists spoke to dozens of sources close to the operation, including 19 members of the Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD) and the country's Military Intelligence Service (MIVD). According to the investigation, Erik van Sabben was recruited by the AIVD in 2005. However, the Dutch leadership was not aware of the engineer's intentions related to the Iranian programme.

In 2007, an engineer infiltrated a nuclear facility in the Iranian city of Netenz. There, he installed equipment with a virus that destroyed nuclear centrifuges. As a result of the operation, the nuclear programme was delayed for several years, and the restoration of the software cost more than $1 billion.

Volkskrant writes that Erik van Sabben crashed on a motorcycle in Sharjah (UAE) in January 2009. The official version is an accident. However, the publication's anonymous sources from the MIVD believe that it could have been a murder.