Israel Matzav

Iran trying to buy nuclear parts through Taiwan

Shut out of the international market, Iran is now seeking to buy nuclear parts through Taiwan.

Western intelligence officials say Iran has responded by concentrating its efforts on Taiwan, and has already managed to acquire a 100 transducers which have been secretly shipped to Tehran. The transducers were originally manufactured in Europe and then sold to a company in Taiwan, which then sold them on to Iran's defence ministry.

UN officials are now investigating whether the European companies are undertaking proper checks of end-user certificates for their equipment.

According to the intelligence reports, Iranian officials are now trying to negotiate further shipments of the highly restricted equipment from Taiwan.

Iran is banned from buying the equipment on the open market by the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the international body set up to reduce nuclear proliferation by controlling the export of materials that can be used for building nuclear weapons.

"This is a serious loophole, as it enables Iran to acquire sophisticated equipment that can help it develop its nuclear programme," said a UN source. "Pressure needs to be applied to the companies involved to stop doing business with Tehran while it is still refusing to co-operate with the UN."

Earlier this year a Canadian of Iranian descent was arrested for trying to illegally ship a number of pressure transducers to Iran, which he had originally purchased in the US.

If Taiwan is able to supply these parts, there may be very little the UN can do about it. Taiwan is not a member of the UN. China has been blocking its admission to the UN for years.

What could go wrong?

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:29 PM