A United Nations panel in charge of monitoring illicit Iranian nuclear procurement suggested in its recently released annual report that a decline in confirmed reports of such violations could be attributed to “a political decision by some member states to refrain from reporting to avoid any possible negative impact on ongoing negotiations between … Iran and (major powers),” Reuters reported today.

In the report, the U.N. Panel of Experts also reported that the United Kingdom had uncovered “an active Iranian nuclear procurement network linked to two blacklisted firms.”

The panel said it had received no new reports from U.N. member states of confirmed cases of non-compliance involving Iranian nuclear procurement. However, it cautioned that the lack of such reports could be due to multiple reasons.

“The current situation with reporting could reflect a general reduction of procurement activities by the Iranian side or a political decision by some member states to refrain from reporting to avoid any possible negative impact on ongoing negotiations between … Iran and (major powers),” it said.

The British government, according to the panel’s report, said that it was aware of ongoing illicit Iranian nuclear procurement activities:

“The UK government informed the Panel on 20 April 2015 that it ‘is aware of an active Iranian nuclear procurement network which has been associated with Iran’s Centrifuge Technology Company (TESA) and Kalay Electric Company (KEC)’,” the Panel of Experts said in its annual report. The panel monitors Iran’s compliance with the U.N. sanctions regime.

Both TESA and KEC are subject to sanctions for their suspected involvement in Iran’s illicit nuclear program.

These aren’t the only recent reports of Iranian efforts to evade nuclear sanctions. Foreign Policy reported last December that the United States had charged Iran with “proliferation-sensitive procurement.” Last year, the Panel of Experts reported that Iran had “learned how to outsmart” Western intelligence agencies and hide its nuclear procurement activities.

Despite evidence of Iran’s nuclear cheating, President Barack Obama and the State Department have insisted that Iran has kept to the commitments it made in the November 2013 Joint Plan of Action.

The former deputy director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Olli Heinonen, has warned that Iran’s illicit nuclear procurement activity suggests that it has as yet unknown enrichment facilities that would not be covered by a future nuclear agreement.

[Photo: Jewish News One / YouTube ]