Ahmadinejad Admits Centrifuges Hit By Software Problem

Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad (center) inspecting the Natanz plant in central Iran in 2007

President Mahmud Ahmadinejad has said that "several" of Iran's uranium-enrichment centrifuges were damaged by "software installed in electronic equipment."

Ahmadinejad made the remark amid speculation that Iran's nuclear program recently came under cyberattack by malicious software, or malware, dubbed Stuxnet.

Ahmadinejad said a cyberattack was "able to disable on a limited basis" some Iranian centrifuges. He says specialists have taken steps to prevent future cyber attacks. Until Ahmadinejad's remarks today, Iranian officials insisted their nuclear program was not harmed and that uranium enrichment work was continuing without pause.

But the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said a one-day outage hit Iran's Natanz enrichment facility earlier this month.

The disruption gave rise to speculation that Iran's nuclear program may have been targeted for sabotage by the United States or its allies.

compiled from agency reports