Volkskrant journalists have been conducting their own investigation over the past two years, which ultimately led to the disclosure of unexpected details of the sabotage of Iran’s nuclear program in 2010.
It turned out that 36-year-old Dutch resident Eric Van Sabben, who became a key figure in the operation led by the United States and Israel, was recruited by the Dutch intelligence services AIVD and MIVD. He was able to penetrate the internal infrastructure of the nuclear complex in the Iranian city of Natanz and launch the Stuxnet malware there, which led to the disruption of Tehran’s entire nuclear program.
During this hacking operation, the specialist successfully penetrated inside the underground nuclear complex, which was located in the Iranian city of Natanz. There, the Dutchman installed equipment that was pre-infected with malicious software that cost over $1 billion to create. As journalists suggest, the virus was located in the water pump system, which was installed by Van Sabben. The malware caused several nuclear centrifuges to malfunction, which experts believe caused Iran’s nuclear program to be delayed for several years in the early 2010s.
Despite the fact that the virus penetrated the infrastructure of Iran’s nuclear center and disrupted its work, it was known more than 13 years ago. But throughout this time, it was believed that a local Iranian engineer recruited by American and Israeli intelligence agencies was responsible for the distribution of the malware. The investigation demonstrated that the main role was assigned to a resident of the Netherlands. Van Sabben was an ideal candidate for this mission because he had a specialized technical education, as well as extensive contacts in the Middle East region and serious connections with Iranian business. In addition, his wife was an Iranian citizen.
After the operation was completed, Eric Van Sabben hastily left Iran. But some time later he tragically died in the United Arab Emirates in a traffic accident. Despite the fact that law enforcement authorities ruled the accident an accident, without any evidence of a crime, one of the Dutch intelligence officials says that Eric Van Sabben “paid quite a high price for his work.” After the death of a Dutch citizen, an article published in the UAE noted his contribution to the development of the region.
Journalists from the Volkskrant also reported on the results of their investigation that the Dutch Cabinet and the so-called secret committee Stiekem, which consists of representatives of major political parties in the state, knew nothing about the fact that the Netherlands collaborated with the United States in this operation against Iran.
In this regard, after the corresponding article was published in the newspaper, parliamentarians from the Netherlands demanded from the local intelligence services an explanation of this cooperation and the reasons why the Dutch government and parliament were not informed about the operation of the Dutch intelligence service. At the moment, the Dutch intelligence services refuse to give any detailed comments on this matter, and therefore journalists believe that the information is classified due to the likely serious political consequences.
