Iran: 4 men caught entering nuclear site were thieves

After Tehran’s nuclear chief says saboteurs were nabbed, official news agency says suspects sought scrap metal

By AP 30 October 2013, 5:01 pm

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The reactor building of the nuclear power plant just outside the southern city of Bushehr, Iran (photo credit: AP/Mehr News Agency/Majid Asgaripour/File)

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s intelligence minister says four people arrested earlier this month after sneaking into a nuclear facility were thieves, not saboteurs as originally believed.

Mahmoud Alavi is quoted by the Iranian parliament’s news agency website Icana.ir as saying Wednesday that the four dug a hole under a concrete wall at the unspecified nuclear facility, apparently seeking to collect scrap iron to sell. The four were arrested on the spot.

Earlier this month, Iran’s nuclear chief, Ali Akbar Salehi, said authorities arrested four workers in an alleged sabotage plot involving one of the country’s nuclear facilities. The reason for the revised account was not immediately clear.

Iran periodically announces the arrest of suspects charged with espionage or attempts to sabotage its nuclear facilities. But it normally does not release further details.