Iran Continues Seeking Prohibited Nuclear Technology Despite Ongoing Talks

Iran continues to defy existing sanctions on its nuclear and ballistic missile programs as nuclear negotiations proceed in Vienna. In a report published Friday in The Weekly Standard, Emanuele Ottolenghi and Benjamin Weinthal, fellows at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, cited a German intelligence agency that recently reported on Iran’s continuing efforts to acquire prohibited technology.

Ottolenghi and Weinthal write that Iran has “a long history of trying to obtain nuclear technology from German companies.” However, despite reports in May that the Czech Republic blocked an Iranian purchase of compressors that can be used for centrifuges, the U.N. Panel of Experts noted last month that Iranian violations have generally been ignored by the West. Similarly, in June, the Government Accountability Office reported that the State Department was lax in reporting on and enforcing existing sanctions on Iran.

According to Ottolenghi and Weinthal, this failure to hold Iran accountable for its violations of sanctions “suggests a lack of resolve on the part of Western nations, and their willingness to downplay all but the most egregious violations.” This begs the question, “If Western powers are reluctant to penalize Iran for trying to evade sanctions because they’re afraid of spoiling the negotiations, what will happen in the future when Western powers have even more invested in preserving an agreement?”

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