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Summary
Wikileaks reveals that German think tank advised US to sabotage Iran nuclear sites by undercover operations.The United States was advised to adopt a policy of covert sabotage of Irans clandestine nuclear facilities, including computer hacking and unexplained explosions, by an influential German think tank, a leaked US embassy cable reveals. Volker Perthes, director of Germanys government-funded Institute for Security and International Affairs, told US officials in Berlin that undercover operations would be more effective than a military strike in curtailing Irans nuclear ambitions.A sophisticated computer worm, Stuxnet, infiltrated the Natanz nuclear facility last year, delaying Irans programme by some months. The New York Times said this week that Stuxnet was a joint US-Israeli operation. Irans top nuclear negotiator blamed the US for the cyber-attack. US and Israeli officials refused to comment on their reported involvement with Stuxnet yesterday. However, the leaked cables show that more covert methods of infiltrating Irans nuclear programme including powerful cyber attacks was a proposal gaining traction inside US diplomatic circles last year.Wikileaks also disclosed that President George Bush approved $300m (189m) on joint covert projects aimed at Iran, understood to have included Stuxnet, before leaving office in 2009.
