In a newly released report, the German intelligence agency in the state of Hesse singled out Iran as one of two states seeking to obtain weapons of mass destructions as the ultimate form of power.
Benjamin Weinthal reported for The Jerusalem Post on Sunday that the report lists types of illegal proliferation technology that Iran and North Korea want for the production of weapons of mass destruction, including “equipment for the enrichment of uranium, nuclear reactors in connection with reprocessing plants, bioreactors, drying installation facilities, and the production process for precursor chemical products.”
According to the security agency, “Weapons of mass destruction are a continued instrument of power politics that also, in regional and international crises situations, can shatter the entire stability of state structures. States like Iran and North Korea attempt, in the context of proliferation, to acquire and spread such weapons by, for example, disguising the transportation ways through third countries.”
German intelligence officials further observed that the goal of Iran and North Korea was “to circumvent control mechanisms in countries that are not especially subject to embargo restrictions.”
The agency defined proliferation as “the production and spreading of weapons of mass destruction” and “the acquisition of compatible missile carrying systems and technology by states for which these weapons were not previously available.”
German state reports often list more concrete data on Iran’s illicit nuclear, missile and espionage activities than reports released by federal agencies.
In 2017, the security agency in North Rhine-Westphalia charged that Iran sought to obtain illicit technology that could be used for military nuclear and ballistic missile programs. According to their assessment, Iran’s regime made “32 procurement attempts…that definitely or with high likelihood were undertaken for the benefit of proliferation programs.”
In June, the intelligence agency of Baden-Württemberg wrote in its report: “Iran continued to undertake, as did Pakistan and Syria, efforts to obtain goods and know-how to be used for the development of weapons of mass destruction and to optimize corresponding missile-delivery systems.”
Bavaria’s intelligence agency had made similar observations in its most recent report: “Iran, North Korea, Syria and Pakistan are making efforts to expand their conventional weapons arsenal through the production of weapons of mass destruction.”
The German government of Chancellor Angela Merkel, which is working with other European countries to save the nuclear deal signed with Iran in 2015 following the U.S. withdrawal from the accord earlier this year, has not commented on the intelligence reports.
[Photo: Sergei Gussev / Flickr ]