Four men were charged in Hamburg, Germany for exporting dual-use equipment to Iran. From 2010 to 2011, the four men, referred to in court documents only as Kianzad Ka., Gholamali Ka., Hamid Kh., and Rudolf M., shipped German and Indian-origin valves that can be used in heavy water reactors to Iran, via several Asian countries. According to the charges, some of the valves were manufactured by a company in the German state of Thuringia owned by Rudolf M.
News Briefs
April 11, 2013
The U.S. Treasury Department blacklisted Iranian businessman Babak Zanjani, Malaysia's First Islamic Bank, and a network of companies for money laundering and attempting to evade international sanctions on Iran's oil industry. Zanjani is based in the United Arab Emirates and is chairman of the Sorinet Group. The Treasury Department said Zanjani, his companies, and First Islamic Bank moved billions of dollars on behalf of the Iranian government, including the National Iranian Oil Company and an engineering unit of the Revolutionary Guards. Also blacklisted was Swiss-based Nafitran Intertrade Company, which the Treasury Department said was owned or controlled by the National Iranian Oil Company.
-- Reuters
April 9, 2013
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad marked the annual National Day of Nuclear Technology by inaugurating three new nuclear projects in Yazd Province. Ahmadinejad presided over the launch of a uranium mine in Saghand, a yellow cake manufacturing factory in Ardakan (the Shahid Reza'inezhad Complex), and an accelerator project in Taft.
-- Islamic Republic of Iran News Network Television
April 6, 2013
An April round of negotiations in Almaty, Kazakhstan, over Iran's nuclear program ended in failure. "It became clear that our positions remain far apart," said chief negotiator Catherine Ashton, the European Union's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. In the meetings, the P5+1 negotiating partners sought reductions of Iran's stock of 20 percent enriched uranium and suspension of some enrichment activities. No new talks were scheduled.
-- Reuters
April 2, 2013
The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Yukiya Amano, expressed concern that Iran may be continuing to secretly work on a nuclear weapon. According to Amano, "we do not know for sure, but we have information indicating that Iran was engaged in activities relevant to the development of nuclear explosive devices in the past and now."
-- Associated Press
March 14, 2013
The Iranian Army test-fired the Naze'at-10 and the Fajr-5 during military exercises. The Fajr-5 is an artillery rocket with a range of 75 km. The Naze'at-10 is a medium range ballistic missile.
-- Fars News Agency
March 14, 2013
The United States blacklisted a Greek businessman, Dimitri Cambis, and fourteen of his companies, charging that they conspired with Iran to evade oil sanctions by acquiring petroleum tankers on Iran's behalf. Participants in the scheme included the National Iranian Oil Company and the National Iranian Tanker Company, both of which already have been sanctioned by the United States.
-- New York Times
March 12, 2013
An Iranian national, Hossein Tanideh, was arrested in Turkey for his role in shipping of "nuclear materials" from Germany and India to Iran. An associate, Mesut Atasoy, owner of the Baha Tourism Limited Company, also was taken into custody. The probe was initiated by German authorities. Tanideh and Atasoy used shell companies set up in Istanbul, including IDI Dis Trading Co., to obtain the material, which they sent to the MITECH Company in Iran. MITECH is under "international embargo."
-- Bugun Online
March 4, 2013
Swiss-based commodities trading house Trafigura confirmed that it bartered alumina with the Iranian Aluminum Company, Iralco, folllwing an agreement reached in October 2011. Trafigura says that no deliveries have been made to Iralco since it was sanctioned by the European Union in December 2012. E.U. sanctions were imposed on Iralco because of links to Iran's nuclear program.
-- Reuters
March 1, 2013
Swiss-based commodities trading company Glencore provided thousands of tons of alumina to the Iranian Aluminum Company, Iralco. Iralco has a supply contract with the Iran Centrifuge Technology Company (TESA), a subsidiary of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI). The AEOI and its subordinates have been subject to U.N. sanctions since 2006. Iralco was sanctioned by the European Union in December 2012 for "supporting Iran's proliferation sensitive nuclear activities." According to Glencore, the last trade with Iralco took place in October 2012.
-- Reuters