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West Used Lizards to Spy on Iran's Nuclear Program – Military Official

Hassan Firuzabadi, former chief-of-staff of Iran’s armed forces, addressed the recent arrest of environmentalists on espionage charges.

Responding to local media questions, the senior military advisor to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that the West had often used tourists, scientists and environmentalists to spy on the country.

"Several years ago, some individuals came to Iran to collect aid for Palestine… We were suspicious of the route they chose. 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 told the ILNA news agency.

His comments follow the death of a prominent Iranian environmentalist, Kavous Seyed Emami, who also held Canadian citizenship. Seyed Emami, who hanged himself while in solitary confinement in Tehran’s Evin Prison, was arrested two weeks ago, along with other activists accused of working undercover and providing intelligence to foreigners.