While U.S.-led world powers hold talks with Iran in Vienna to
curb Tehran’s illicit nuclear weapons program, the Islamic Republic’s
spies have been seeking atomic and missile technology in neighboring
Germany as recently as last month, according to German intelligence
sources.
Iran’s illegal activities have continued since talks between Iran and
the P5+1 - the five permanent members of the UN Security Council as
well as rotating member Germany - began with a Joint Plan of Action in
2013, according to German intelligence sources. The JPOA was intended to
stop Iran’s work on a nuclear weapon until a comprehensive agreement is
reached.
With a final agreement to restrict Iran’s nuclear program set for
Monday, the intelligence data from Germany raises disturbing questions
about the success of a deal.
"You would think that with the negotiations, [Iranian] activities
would drop," a German intelligence source said. "Despite the talks to
end Iran’s program, Iran did not make an about-turn."
The startling revelations of Iran’s ongoing duplicity first appeared Friday on the
website of The Weekly Standard.
Iran has a long history of illegally obtaining nuclear technology
from within Germany and transporting it in ways that circumvent
international sanctions. German companies have shown an eagerness to
legally tap the Iranian market, though none are accused of abetting
illegality in the latest efforts by Iran.
"Despite the talks to end Iran’s program, Iran did not make an about-turn"
- German intelligence source
Tehran has sought industry computers, high-speed cameras, cable
fiber, and pumps for its nuclear and missile program over the last two
years, according to German intelligence sources. Germany is required to
report Iran’s illegal procurement activities to the UN.
Germany’s domestic intelligence agency—the equivalent of the FBI—in late June issued a
detailed report on Iran’s wide-ranging activities to obtain illicit technology for its nuclear and missiles program.
Bloomberg News reported in June that sanctions experts from the Iran
UN panel said, "The current situation with reporting could reflect a
general reduction of procurement activities by the Iranian side or a
political decision by some member states to refrain from reporting to
avoid a possible negative impact on ongoing negotiations.”
A nuclear deal with Iran that lifts sanctions could be an economic
windfall for Germany. Michael Tockuss, a spokesman for the
German-Iranian Chamber of Commerce Association in Hamburg, said annual
exports to Iran could rise to the equivalent of $7 billion after a final
agreement. The Chambers of Commerce and Industry in Germany sees
bilateral trade rising to the equivalent of more than $13 billion
annually in a post-sanctions world.
Germany has not taken as skeptical an eye toward the talks as France,
whose top diplomat, Laurent Fabius, famously termed the 2013 Iran talks
resulting in the JPOA a “fool’s deal.”
Frank-Walter Steinmeier , Germany’s foreign minister, slammed U.S.
Senate Republicans for their letter to Iran’s Supreme leader, Ali
Khamenei in which they warned that Congress could override a lousy
agreement.
“Obviously mistrust is growing...on the Iranian side if we are really
serious with the negotiations,” Steinmeier said in March, adding that
he hoped “the letter of the 47 senators no longer causes any disturbance
in the negotiations.”
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., accused Steinmeier of coming from “the
Neville Chamberlain school of diplomacy,” in a reference to the World
War II-era appeasement diplomacy of the former British prime minister.
