JEDDAH — Former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has accused the Iranian intelligence services of using its resources to spy on people and intervene in domestic affairs rather than protecting the country’s vital installations, Iran International, a Persian television station headquartered in London, reported on Sunday.

Ahmadinejad said the recent attack on Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility cost the country $10 billion, stressing that it could have been prevented if the intelligence services had focused on their task instead of placing cameras to control his house.

The former Iranian president made the remarks during in a two-hour video interview with a local online channel.

According to global media reports, the Natanz facility was sabotaged by Israel. Iranian officials have also admitted that the incident was an act of sabotage but have not announced an exact figure of damages.

The former president also spoke of the theft of Iran’s nuclear archives by Israel in 2018, that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unveiled at the United Nations in September of that year, accusing Iran of secret activities it hid from international inspectors in the early 2000s.

For the first time, Ahmadinejad also referred to the theft of documents from Iran’s space center but did not elaborate. “They came through the roof” and stole documents, he claimed. The space center is in charge of Iran’s satellite launches.

Ahmadinejad’s interview, conducted a few days before his candidacy was rejected by Iran’s election watchdog the Guardian Council, touched upon a wide range of sensitive issues, such as corruption, the need for reforms and relations with regional countries and the United States.

He claimed that during his presidency regional Arab countries had good relations with Iran.

Regarding the internal situation in Iran, Ahmadinejad called for reforms at many levels including a change in the behavior of state organs and entities.

“They should act as though they belong to the people”, he said, and not behave as they are in command. He warned that people have lost trust in the system and the result “is what you see today,” he said and added that certain security circles do not allow peaceful protests and lead the country to violence because “they have their own interests.” — Agencies