Berlin, Jun 12, IRNA -- German foreign ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer called for clarifying allegations of potential espionage during recent Iran nuclear talks.

Asked by IRNA for a reaction on the latest spying scandal, Schaefer said, 'I don't want to comment on the investigation of the Swiss and Austrian judiciary since they are acting independently. However, a clarification of the case would be helpful, if indeed inappropriate things did occur.'

Swiss and Austrian authorities are investigating claims of potential espionage during recent nuclear talks between Iran and six world powers, the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France plus Germany.

The investigations were launched after Russian Internet security firm Kaspersky Lab said this week that it had uncovered a sophisticated cyberespionage weapon in use around the world, and specifically targeting hotels that hosted the nuclear talks.

An Austrian Interior Ministry spokesman, Karl-Heinz Grundboeck, would give no further details but said 'all relevant locations' are being investigated.

The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland said it had 'opened criminal proceedings against persons unknown on suspicion of political espionage.'

A house was searched May 12 in Geneva, it said, 'and IT hardware as well as software has been seized. The aim of the aforementioned house search was to seize respective information as well as the malware; it was of particular interest to investigate whether the malware infected the respective IT systems.'

According to US media reports, Israel is believed to be behind this espionage as it opposes a nuclear agreement with Iran.

By IRNA