The U.S. Department of Energy announced the purchase of 32 metric tons of heavy water from Iran for $8.6 million and expects delivery within weeks. Under the terms of the nuclear agreement, Iran is currently permitted to keep 130 tons of heavy water and only 90 tons once the redesigned Arak reactor is commissioned. Iran's lead nuclear negotiator, Abbas Araqchi, said Iran has about 70 tons of excess heavy water and is in talks with another, non-American company to sell the remaining stock.
News Briefs
April 20, 2016
Iran conducted its first launch of the new Simorgh space launch vehicle, a launch that was judged to be partly successful by U.S. intelligence agencies. According to a U.S. defense official, the event was either an unsuccessful launch or a test of the rocket's third stage that was not intended to send a satellite into orbit. A State Department spokesman said he could not confirm the launch. The Simorgh, a large liquid-fueled rocket, has been under surveillance by U.S. satellites at a launch pad at Iran's Semnan satellite launch center. The rocket is believed to be based on North Korean missile technology and capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. U.S. Vice Adm. James Syring, director of the Missile Defense Agency, told Congress that the Simorgh eventually could be reconfigured as an intercontinental ballistic missile.
-- Washington Free Beacon
April 11, 2016
Russia has delivered the first part of its S-300 air defense system to Iran. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Jaberi Ansari announced on April 11 that the first phase of the S-300 contract between Russia and Iran had been implemented. While the Foreign Ministry neither confirmed nor denied an actual delivery, several unnamed sources confirmed to Mehr News Agency that a delivery had taken place, reportedly through the Caspian Sea.
-- Mehr News Agency
April 8, 2016
A Belgian chemical distributor, Chemical Partners Europe S.A. (CPE), agreed to pay a $350,000 fine to the Bureau of Industry and Security to settle six charges related to the export of coatings, pigments, and paints to Iran. Between January 2010 and March 2011, CPE allegedly exported about $244,358 worth of U.S.-origin items with nuclear or marine applications to Iran using falsified export declarations.
-- The Export Practitioner
April 7, 2016
Iran celebrated its National Day of Nuclear Technology by unveiling twelve new indigenously developed nuclear industry achievements. The ceremony, which was attended by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, included the announcement of new centrifuge systems, fuel rod complexes, the Pasman Gor nuclear site in the Anarak region, and three books related to nuclear technology and Iran's nuclear program.
-- Fars News Agency
April 5, 2016
A three-judge panel at the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. unanimously authorized a settlement between the federal government and the Dutch company Fokker Services B.V. accused of sanctions violations, overturning a district court ruling that had thrown out the deferred-prosecution agreement as too lenient. Fokker, an aerospace company, had agreed to pay $21 million as part of an 18-month deferred prosectuion agreement to settle charges that it sold aircraft parts to Iranian military customers, as well as to customers in Burma and Sudan, in violation of U.S. law.
-- Wall Street Journal
April 5, 2016
German prosecutors indicted three men for allegedly exporting valves to the Iranian company responsible for building Iran's Arak heavy water reactor, in violation of German export control laws. Prosecutors allege that the three men delivered 51 valves, worth about 1 million euros ($1.14 million), in two shipments in 2010 and 2011. The three men were identified only as Bernd L., Rene L., and Ralf C. The end user in Iran was not identified.
April 4, 2016
The U.S. Navy confiscated weapons bound from Iran to Houthi rebels in Yemen for at least the third time in two months on March 28. U.S. forces aboard the USS Sirocco seized a cache of weapons from a small boat in the Arabian Sea. The weapons included about 1,500 Kalashnikov rifles, 200 rocket-propelled grenade launchers, and 21 .50-caliber machine guns.
-- Washington Post
March 24, 2016
The U.S. Treasury Department imposed new sanctions on two Iranian defense firms for their involvement in Iran's ballistic missile program. Shahid Nuri Industries and Shahid Movahed Industries were designated as subordinates of Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group (SHIG), which is responsible for Iran's liquid-fueled ballistic missile program. The Treasury Department also sanctioned two British businessmen--Jeffrey John James Ashfield and John Meadows--and two UK-based companies--Aviation Capital Solutions and Aircraft, Avionics, Parts & Support Ltd. (AAPS)--for providing aviation parts, financing, and for facilitating transactions for Mahan Air, which has been blacklisted by the United States for supporting terrorism. Two companies based in the United Arab Emirates--Grandeur General Trading FZE and HSI Trading FZE--were also sanctioned for supporting Mahan Air.
-- U.S. Treasury Department Press Center
March 21, 2016
A Turkish national and two Iranian citizens were indicted in Manhattan U.S. District Court on charges of engaging in hundreds of millions of dollars-worth of transactions on behalf of the the government of Iran and other Iranian entities in violation of U.S. sanctions. Reza Zarrab, a dual Turkish-Iranian citizen, was arrested on March 19, while his two Iranian co-defendants, Camelia Jamshidy and Hossein Najafzadeh, remain at large. Between 2010 and 2015, the three men allegedly conspired to use an international network of companies located in Iran, Turkey, and elsewhere to induce U.S. banks to unknowingly process financial transactions for Iranian entities in violation of U.S. sanctions.
-- U.S. Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs