The reports of damage done by the virus Stuxnet to Iranian computers has provoked a sigh of relief by the West, which was happy with the reported delay of Tehran’s nuclear program – but now it turns out that maybe there was no reason to rejoice: A new study published in the UK reveals that Iran’s nuclear potential may actually have increased significantly following the penetration of the computer worm into the facilitiy in 2009-2010.

Researchers say the Stuxnet worm revealed weaknesses in the facility, which otherwise would not have been noticed. In fact, the production of the facility actually increased in the year following exposure of the penetration.

The research showed that even during the period in which the West thought Iran’s nuclear program was ‘under attack,’ the Iranians intensified their activities under a cloak of secrecy and began to enrich uranium to higher levels, following improvements to the activities of the centrifuges.