The flame virus, which is intended to gather intelligence — not destroy equipment or data, as was the case with the notorious Stuxnet virus — is too sophisticated to be the work of another country, said one U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity. “It was U.S.,” said the official, who acknowledged having no first-hand knowledge of how the virus operates or was introduced into the Iranian computers…

While the flame virus appears to be aimed more at gathering intelligence on the Iranian program, it, too, aims to make the Iranians paranoid, the officials said. It does so by making them wonder about security and by raising questions about whether the enemy knows the intricacies of Iranian decision making, not just on the nuclear program but on a host of other issues important to the U.S. and the West, they said.