Iran sought chemical and biological weapons in 2015, says German intel

Iran aggressively pursued biological and chemical weapons technology even as it negotiated an international deal to drop its nuclear program, according to a German intelligence report that followed a similar finding the Islamic Republic sought nuclear materials.

The revelation, in a report by the state of Rhineland-Palatinate's intelligence agency, found the Islamic Republic's operatives targeted German companies whose equipment could be “implemented for atomic, biological and chemical weapons in a war.”

“These goods could, for example, be applied to the development of state nuclear and missile delivery programs,” said the intelligence experts.

Another passage in the document notes that, “special attention was paid in the report’s time period to proliferation-relevant activities of Iran, Pakistan and North Korea.”

Just last week, FoxNews.com reported that Germany’s Federal intelligence agency revealed in its annual report that Iran has a “clandestine” effort to seek illicit nuclear technology and equipment from German companies “at what is, even by international standards, a quantitatively high level.”

The local intelligence agencies are comparable to regional FBI offices.

This week marks the one-year anniversary of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action negotiated by the U.S. and other world powers to restrict Tehran’s vast nuclear project. The deal with Iran’s anti-American regime is widely considered to be President Obama’s landmark foreign policy agreement.

A FoxNew.com review of the voluminous German intelligence data and reports show Iran’s secret activities were documented in half of Germany's 16 states.

It is not known how many attempts the Islamic Republic made to illegally secure technology across Germany.

The German state of Baden-Württemberg said in its intelligence report that Iran currently lacks the ability to produce certain essential parts for nuclear, chemical and biological weaponry and instead tries to get it from Western companies.

“In addition to vacuum technology, there is special interest in machine tools, high-speed cameras, and climate test control chambers,” the report said.

A militant pro-IRGC (Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps) media website Young Journalists Club termed the German intelligence reports to be “laughable.”

German and U.S. officials claim Iran’s illicit procurement efforts took place before the January implementation date of the nuclear agreement. However, a Wall Street Journal report cited two German intelligence officials who said illegal procurement efforts by Iran extended into this year.

In response to the German Federal intelligence report, U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk said on Thursday:

“I strongly opposed the flawed nuclear deal because Iran would keep cheating, as shown by Iran’s numerous ballistic missile tests aimed at threatening Israel, and now by the German intelligence report on Iran’s aggressive efforts to secretly buy nuclear and missile technology,” said Kirk, R- Ill.

The deputy head of the Revolutionary Guards, Brig. Gen. Hossein Salami, said on Friday the Islamic Republic has more than 100,000 missiles in Lebanon ready for the “annihilation” of Israel.

Benjamin Weinthal reports on human rights in the Middle East and is a fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Follow him on Twitter @BenWeinthal.