JERUSALEM, March 2 (UPI) -- An Israeli intelligence unit cracked an Iranian code and was aware of the purchase of nuclear arms components from Pakistan, the New Yorker said Tuesday.
The report said a number of years ago, the Israeli signals-intelligence agency, known as Unit 8200, broke a sophisticated Iranian code and began monitoring communications that included talk between Iran and Pakistan about Iran's growing nuclear-weapons program.
According to the report, the investigation by the International Atomic Energy Agency into Iranian nuclear capability was spurred by Israeli intelligence findings that were relayed to the atomic agency via the National Council of Resistance of Iran.
According to the report, Unit 8200's monitored senior officials in Tehran and Islamabad having frequent conversations regarding the IAEA investigations, which were also shared with U.S. intelligence services.
A senior Israeli intelligence officer in Tel Aviv who has access to the secret Iran-Pakistan contacts said Israel remains convinced "the Iranians do not intend to give up the bomb."
"What Iran did was report to the IAEA the information that was already out in the open and which they cannot protect. There is much that is not exposed," the official said.
