Israel Denies Using Virus to Spy on Iran Nuke Talks

JERUSALEM, Israel -- Israel's deputy foreign minister denied on Thursday a Wall Street Journal report saying it launched a computer spy virus to bug three European hotels where negotiations on the Iranian nuclear deal took place.

A Moscow-based cybersecurity firm named Kaspersky Lab ZAO said it had discovered the virus in three hotels used by world powers and Iran to negotiate over Iran's nuclear program.

Kaspersky said the virus, known as Duqu, was sophisticated. It was first discovered in 2011 and intelligence experts linked the virus at that time to Israel.

The virus reportedly would have allowed its programmers to steal computer files and eavesdrop in rooms where computers were turned on.

U.S. officials publicly accused Israel of spying on the talks in 2014. But in a radio interview, Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely called the WSJ report "baseless."

"What is much more important is that we prevent a bad agreement where at the end of the day we find ourselves with a Iranian nuclear umbrella," she said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned repeatedly that the United States and other world powers are making a very bad deal with Iran.  That deal is supposed to be completed by the end of this month.

Earlier this week, Netanyahu noted that no one from the Middle East, a region that would be most affected by a nuclear Iran, has been invited to the talks.

"It's worth noting that no one from this region, except Iran, is at the negotiating table," Netanyahu said during a speech at the prestigious Herzliya Conference. "Somebody once said: 'If you're not at the table, you're on the menu.'"