The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), Germany's national intelligence agency, noted in an annual report on Germany's national security that Iran made fewer attempts to aquire materials tied to nuclear proliferation in 2018 than in 2017. The report added that these efforts at procurement failed to violate the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the 2015 treaty placing limits on Iran's nuclear program. The BfV noted that Iran was also trying to acquire materials for the development of ballistic missiles, which fall outside the JCPOA, at a higher pace in 2018 than in 2017. Another report, by the BfV's local counterpart in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, observed that Iran was still attempting to procure materials for weapons of mass destruction.