US-backed opposition networks dismantled, says Iran

Tehran: Iran said yesterday it has dismantled several US-backed opposition networks that were gathering information on nuclear scientists and finding ways to circumvent controls on the internet meant to deprive the opposition of its most crucial tool.

A judiciary statement carried on the official IRNA news agency said the networks were set up by Iranian opposition groups, including the People's Mujahideen, and that 30 of their members were arrested.

Undermine

"A number of organised American cyber war networks were dismantled and 30 influential suspects were arrested ... in a series of complicated security operations in the information technology and communications field," IRNA quoted the statement as saying.

The government has repeatedly accused the US and Britain of provoking the unrest that followed June's disputed presidential election — charges both Washington and London have denied.

The statement comes as Washington is pushing for tougher sanctions against Iran over its nuclear programme, which the US and other nations fear is aimed at producing weapons. Iran denies such an intention and says its nuclear work is only for peaceful purposes like power generation.

The Iranian statement did not say when the suspects were arrested but it accused the US of using such networks to undermine Iran's ruling system under a policy that it asserted originated in 2006 during George W. Bush's presidency.

"The new intelligence battle known as cyber warfare was made part of the US government's agenda," IRNA quoted the statement as saying.

The statement claimed the US Congress approved a $400 million (Dh1.47 billion) budget for the covert operation that also involved groups seeking to restore Iran's monarchy.

Iranian authorities have launched a broad clampdown on many websites, including blogs, independent news outlets and sites linked to opposition leader Mir Hussain Mousavi, who claims he was deprived of the presidency through fraud in the June election.

With anti-filtering software and the use of web proxy sites, some Iranians have been able to circumvent those controls to browse YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Farsi-language news sites that were blocked.

Protests

The judiciary statement said the targeted networks were using such software to enable the opposition to access the web, which it depends upon to organise protests and spread its calls for political and social reform.