The former chief of staff of the Iranian Armed Forces said foreign governments have used several species of lizards, including chameleons, to spy on Iran's nuclear program. The story was denounced by Hassan Firuzabadi, a veteran Iranian military officer, who from 1989 to 2016 was the chief of staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, the highest military post in the Islamic Republic. Since his retirement in 2016, Firuzabadi has held several key consulting roles and is currently a senior military adviser to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's reform-minded supreme leader.
On Tuesday, the Iranian Labor News Agency (ILNA) published a lengthy interview with Firuzabadi. The ex-military man was speaking in response to reports of a prominent Franco-Iranian environmental activist who had died in prison, presumably from suicide. Kavous Seyed Emami, 63, was a sociology professor, director of the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation, and political activist. He was arrested with seven of his colleagues on January 24 and charged with spying. On February 9, Emami's family said they had been informed by the authorities of his death in prison, apparently following the suicide. The news was later confirmed by Iran's chief prosecutor. Emami's family, as well as numerous environmental activists, contest claims of the government's suicide as the cause of his death.
But in his interview published on the ILNA website, Firuzabadi said environmental activists with ties to foreign countries have been involved in spying activities against the Islamic Republic in the past. He told the news that Iranian authorities arrested a group of foreigners who were visiting Iran a few years ago to raise money for Palestinian political prisoners. He added that among the effects of foreigners the authorities found "a kind of desert reptile, like a chameleon". Firuzabadi then said that "following the studies" on the lizards, the Iranian authorities concluded that their skin "attracts atomic waves". They then concluded that the foreigners were in fact "nuclear spies" who had entered Iran to "find out where the uranium mines are located and where the government is engaged in nuclear-related activities." Firuzabadi also said that many foreigners who are engaged in environmental activism "are not even aware that they are actually spying" on Iran.
But Western scientists and science journalists have dismissed Firuzabadi's claims as fantastic. On Tuesday, John Timmer, science editor of the US technology and science website Ars Technica, called the Iranian military official's claims "insane" and added that there is "no scientific evidence that reptiles are effective as Geiger markers."