Iran: West taints cigarettes with pig blood

TEHRAN, Iran — Cigarettes smuggled into Iran have been tainted with pig blood and nuclear material as part of a Western conspiracy, an Iran official claimed Friday.

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The semiofficial Mehr news agency quoted Mohammad Reza Madani from the Society for Fighting Smoking as saying contraband Marlboros have been contaminated with pig hemoglobin and unspecified nuclear material.

Madani claimed Philip Morris International, which sells Marlboro outside the U.S., is "led by Zionists" and deliberately exports tainted cigarettes. Pig products are considered unclean under Muslim law.

He provided no evidence or information about the confiscated cigarettes. Friday's report also gave no details on how the alleged contamination was discovered.

Tehran, which often alleges Western conspiracies, says 20 billion cigarettes are smuggled into Iran every year.