On 16 September, the Institute for Science and International Security in the US published a paper on a recent case where the German Federal Prosecutors Office issued an arrest warrant for a German-Iranian citizen who is accused of illegally exporting a multitude of laboratory equipment, including 4 spectrometers, in 3 separate cases, to Iran. It says that, given the nature of the items involved, the Iranian procurements violated not only German law and EU sanctions Regulations, but appear to have also violated the regulations of the procurement channel of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Referring also to earlier cases, it says that the recent case highlights the continued effort of Iran to break trade control laws and sanctions of other countries to procure items for its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes, and that Iran continues to actively recruit sympathetic or persuadable individuals to acquire commodities for its sensitive programmes. It also highlights that Iran continues to lack the domestic capability to produce certain sophisticated measuring equipment and analytical instruments, such as spectrometry systems essential for a uranium enrichment program, and thus, is forced to seek these items elsewhere.
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