Iran says nuke program target of sabotage

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TEHRAN, Sept. 24 (UPI) -- German engineering company Siemens said it has no business ties to the Iranian nuclear program following sabotage accusations made by Tehran.

Alaeddin Boroujerdi, an Iranian lawmaker, said authorities uncovered explosive devices in nuclear equipment that he said were planted at a factory run by Siemens, the BBC reports.

"Siemens rejects the allegations and stresses that we have no business ties to the Iranian nuclear program," spokesman Alexander Machowetz said of the latest claims.

Computer virus Stuxnet infected the computers systems at Iranian nuclear installations in 2010. The virus was tied to a Siemens product though the company denied it was involved. Stuxnet was allegedly tied to Israeli and U.S. intelligence agencies.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told The Washington Post ahead of this week's meeting of U.N. General Assembly he was ready to discuss nuclear issues with the European and U.S. governments.

"But experience has shown that important and key decisions are not made in the U.S. leading up to national elections," he said.

U.S. President Barack Obama is up for re-election in November.

"I do believe that some conversations and key issues must be talked about again once we come out of the other end of the political election atmosphere in the United States," Ahmadinejad said.