A senior military official inside Iran publicly accused the United States of utilizing “lizards” to spy on the nation’s illegal nuclear program; adding that the covert animals were capable of “attracting atomic waves.”

According to the Times of Israel, a former Chief-of-Staff to the Iranian armed forces told reporters this week that the United States deployed “reptile desert species” to locate subterranean nuclear weapons factories and missile silos.

“Several years ago, some individuals came to Iran to collect aid for Palestine… We were suspicious of the route they chose,” said Hassan Firuzabadi, a top adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

“In their possessions were a variety of reptile desert species like lizards, chameleons… We found out that their skin attracts atomic waves and that they were nuclear spies who wanted to find out where inside the Islamic Republic of Iran we have uranium mines and where we are engaged in atomic activities,” he added.

Bizarre allegations of the US and Israel using animals to spy on Iran and other neighboring countries is nothing new. Hamas and the Lebanese government commonly accuse the west of deploying dolphins and birds to penetrate their waterways and airspace.