Reuters - Iran has developed software to protect its industry against the Stuxnet computer virus, the Iranian communications minister said on Thursday, after accusing Israel in November of a cyber attack on Tehran�s telecommunications facilities.

Stuxnet, which is widely believed to have been developed by the United States and Israel, was discovered in 2010 after it was used to attack a uranium enrichment facility at Iran�s Natanz nuclear site. It was the first publicly known example of a virus being used to attack industrial machinery.

�Iran�s university scientists have developed a firewall for industrial automation systems to neutralize industrial sabotage such as that caused by Stuxnet in power networks, and it was successfully tested,� Communications Minister Mohammad Javad Azari-Jahromi said, quoted by the state news agency IRNA.

In November, Azari-Jahromi said a Stuxnet attack had failed to harm Iran�s communications infrastructures, and accused Israel of being behind it.

Israel has declined comment on whether or not it is involved in a cyber war on Iran.

In 2013, researchers at Symantec Corp uncovered a version of the Stuxnet that was used to attack the Iranian nuclear program in 2007.

Tehran agreed under a 2015 deal with world powers to curb the program but President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of it last year, with Israel�s backing, and reimposed sanctions on Tehran.

Reporting by Dubai newsroom; Editing by Angus MacSwan