Russia: Cyber attack on Iran could be risky

BRUSSELS (AP) - Russia says a recent cyber attack on Iran’s nuclear program could have triggered a “new Chernobyl.”

Russia’s ambassador Dmitry Rogozin to NATO urged the alliance to join Moscow in investigating who had unleashed the mysterious and destructive computer worm known as Stuxnet. The virus hit Iran’s nuclear facilities last year.

He told journalists on Wednesday that the virus could have had “serious implications” for Iran’s Bushehr power nuclear plant, a project completed with Russian help but beset by years of delays.

Chernobyl’s reactor No. 4 exploded in 1986, spewing radiation over a large swath of northern Europe. Hundreds of thousands of people were resettled from areas contaminated with radiation fallout in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia. Related health problems still persist.