April 26 Iran 'uncovers espionage virus'

I remember the last time we saw Yasin. We were all quiet as usual as he swept the room for bugs, first with the portable RF detection meter but then more ritually, by hand. This was at the height of the mistrust between our countries, before the settlement.

Once complete instead of motioning us to sit he produced a small box with a thumb prick kit and tester, much like diabetics use, ' Now you must all allow me to take your blood'

I can't remember exactly what we said but it all came out at once, a blur of protestations and accusations, I'm sure our faces managed to express our surprise more succinctly.

Clearly our reaction was hardly unexpected, he smiled and raised his hands in a surrender gesture or perhaps to silence us.

' I am doing this for all of us and I will go first, we have to be sure our words stay within this room, some of us may be spying yet unaware of our actions'.

With this he pressed the device against his thumb and captured a neat ball of blood, no more than few millimetres across. It was like red mercury, shiny but almost solid.

' Now, I place it in this liquid, if I am infected it will cloud, if I am clean, as I believe I am, it will remain clear'.

We stared open mouthed at this unexpected conjuror revealing a new illusion before he gave the vial a short shake and placed it on the table to let it settle.

' Iraqi scientists are very clever, we must be sure we know who we are '

The liquid began to darken and that's as far as I like to remember.