TROUBLE IN THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC – AT 10:48 A.M. ET:  "Oh there's trouble, my friend, trouble right here in River City."  Well, I doubt if they're singing that line from "The Music Man" in Tehran these days, but maybe they should, if they could get it past the morality police.  But there is definitely trouble in Iran.  There has apparently been some might fine espionage in Iran's nuclear program:

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran acknowledged Saturday that some personnel at the country's nuclear facilities were lured by promises of money to pass secrets to the West but insisted increased security and worker privileges have put a stop to the spying.

The stunning admission by Vice President Ali Akbar Salehi provides the clearest government confirmation that Iran has been fighting espionage at its nuclear facilities.

In recent weeks, Iran has announced the arrest of several nuclear spies and battled a computer worm that it says is part of a covert Western plot to derail its nuclear program. And in July, a nuclear scientist who Iran says was kidnapped by U.S. agents returned home in mysterious circumstances, with the U.S. saying he was a willing defector who was offered $5 million by the CIA but then changed his mind.

The United States and its allies have vigorously sought to slow Iran's nuclear advances through U.N. and other sanctions out of suspicion that Tehran intends to use a civil program as cover for developing weapons. Iran denies any such aim and says it only wants to generate nuclear power.

There have been periodic reports that major espionage operations have been conducted in Iran, by both Israel and the U.S.  This is the first confirmation by Iran that some of these operations bore fruit.

During the Cold War the Russians and their satellite states would periodically announce the arrest of some of their nationals, accusing them of spying for the West.  We would describe such charges as "trumped up," but they were generally accurate.  People working for us would occasionally get caught.  This is the first time, in my memory at least, that Iran has even acknowledged that some of its own people had committed espionage for the West. 

We'll follow this and report any juicy details.

October 10, 2010