How do you stop Iran’s nuclear program when diplomacy has failed and the use conventional military force is, at the moment, unworkable? Sometimes you have to get creative. Enter Stuxnet — the little computer worm that has proven curiously effective at wreaking havoc on Iran’s centrifuges, as while Israel issues smirking denials and shoulder shrugs.

But what do you do when the enemy gets wise to your elegant cyber-attack and sets up a crack team of scientists to shut it down? Well, now maybe it’s time for the wet work. Per DEBKAfile:

Prof. Majid Shahriari, who died when his car was attacked in North Tehran Monday, Nov. 29, headed the team Iran established for combating the Stuxnet virus rampaging through its nuclear and military networks. His wife was injured. The scientist’s death deals a major blow to Iran’s herculean efforts to purge its nuclear and military control systems of the destructive worm since it went on the offensive six months ago. Only this month, Stuxnet shut down nuclear enrichment at Natanz for six days from Nov. 16-22 and curtailed an important air defense exercise. Prof. Shahriari was the Iranian nuclear program’s top expert on computer codes and cyber war.


DEBKA’s not iron-clad reliable, so perhaps a grain of salt is in order. But it’s intriguing stuff, nonetheless.