Iranian nuclear experts linked to the Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research (SPND) visited a Russian company specializing in laser technology in November 2024, according to documents obtained by FT. The delegation was organized and led by Ali Kalvand, the director of SPND-linked procurement broker DamavandTec. It included four Iranians who purported to be DamavandTec employees but were actually researchers affiliated with universities linked to Iran's defense establishment, including Shahid Beheshti University, Islamic Azad University, and Malek Ashtar University of Technology. The delegation visited the St. Petersburg-based company Laser Systems, which is licensed to develop weapons for Russia's defense ministry. A Laser Systems researcher subsequently visited Tehran to meet DamavandTec representatives in February 2025. Ali Kalvand had also led another delegation of Iranian nuclear experts to Russia earlier in 2024.