Iran is using “conspiratorial methods” to cover up illegal activity in Europe aimed at expanding its weapons programme, a German intelligence report said.
It is the latest in a series of warnings by German, Dutch and Swedish security services that Iran is looking to Europe to source technology for weapons of mass destruction.
The report by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution in Schleswig-Holstein, a German state, described a number of tactics it said were used by Iran and others to “disguise their illegal procurement activities” in Europe.
They included creating sham companies in order to conceal from German business partners that they were trading with state-controlled enterprises.
Middlemen were also involved in “illegal procurement networks” set up by Iran as it tried to secretly acquire critical goods from Germany.
German institutions that possess sensitive technology and expertise, including businesses and universities, are subject to strict export controls.
But the report said Iran and other countries, such as Syria, North Korea and Pakistan, deliberately sought to exploit suppliers who were inexperienced in exporting goods.
Goods exported from Germany were then diverted via third countries in order to disguise the fact that they were heading for Iran or one of the countries under suspicion.
In addition, illegal procurement efforts would be “divided into individual shipments that were not suspicious in themselves”, in order to avoid exposing the whole scheme.
Countries such as Iran “try to circumvent security arrangements and export regulations, and conceal their illegal procurement activities,” the report said.
“To achieve this, they mostly use conspiratorial means and methods. The task for German security authorities is to spot these practices and methods in good time and to prevent them.
“However, security authorities depend on companies in Schleswig-Holstein alerting and co-operating with them when they come across questionable dealings and dubious business practices.”
Iran under scrutiny amid Vienna nuclear talks
Iran denies seeking weapons of mass destruction and is involved in talks with world powers aimed at restoring limits on its nuclear activity.
But the latest report follows findings by Dutch intelligence services that Iran’s efforts to acquire weapons technology continued during 2020.
In the past year, Dutch intelligence efforts succeeded in “frustrating and stopping numerous acquisition attempts”, the General Intelligence and Security Service of the Netherlands said.
In Sweden, an annual security report published in March accused Iran of industrial espionage.
This was “mainly targeted at high-tech Swedish industry and Swedish products which could be used in nuclear weapons programmes”, the report said.
Intelligence services in the German state of Bavaria similarly accused Iran in April of trying to get its hands on technology needed to make weapons of mass destruction.
Iran last month increased its nuclear enrichment to 60 per cent, a move described by the Arab League as a clear step towards developing nuclear weapons.
The enrichment went far beyond the limit of 3.67 per cent set out by the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran, the US, Britain, Germany, France, Russia and China.
The US pulled out of the deal under Donald Trump’s presidency in 2018 and restored sanctions on Tehran, but Joe Biden’s administration is seeking a return to the pact.
Iranian diplomats are demanding that all sanctions be lifted before it will resume respecting limits on its nuclear activity.
The talks in Vienna resumed on Friday, with Iran and the US negotiating indirectly via European diplomats.
Asked if he thought Iran was serious about the talks, Mr Biden said: "Yes, but how serious, and what they are prepared to do is a different story. But we're still talking."
Russia’s delegate in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, said on Friday that “the participants agreed on the need to intensify the process”.
"The delegations seem to be ready to stay in Vienna as long as necessary to achieve the goal,” he said.
More on Iran
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UK denies Iranian report of deal to free Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe
Antony Blinken: US negotiators do not know if Iran is prepared for a nuclear deal
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
It Was Just an Accident
Director: Jafar Panahi
Stars: Vahid Mobasseri, Mariam Afshari, Ebrahim Azizi, Hadis Pakbaten, Majid Panahi, Mohamad Ali Elyasmehr
Rating: 4/5
The specs
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- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
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Key facilities
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Museum of the Future in numbers
- 78 metres is the height of the museum
- 30,000 square metres is its total area
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- 14 kilometres is the length of LED lights used on the facade
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The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
Nepotism is the name of the game
Salman Khan’s father, Salim Khan, is one of Bollywood’s most legendary screenwriters. Through his partnership with co-writer Javed Akhtar, Salim is credited with having paved the path for the Indian film industry’s blockbuster format in the 1970s. Something his son now rules the roost of. More importantly, the Salim-Javed duo also created the persona of the “angry young man” for Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan in the 1970s, reflecting the angst of the average Indian. In choosing to be the ordinary man’s “hero” as opposed to a thespian in new Bollywood, Salman Khan remains tightly linked to his father’s oeuvre. Thanks dad.
BMW M5 specs
Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor
Power: 727hp
Torque: 1,000Nm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 10.6L/100km
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Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
Getting there
The flights
Emirates and Etihad fly to Johannesburg or Cape Town daily. Flights cost from about Dh3,325, with a flying time of 8hours and 15 minutes. From there, fly South African Airlines or Air Namibia to Namibia’s Windhoek Hosea Kutako International Airport, for about Dh850. Flying time is 2 hours.
The stay
Wilderness Little Kulala offers stays from £460 (Dh2,135) per person, per night. It is one of seven Wilderness Safari lodges in Namibia; www.wilderness-safaris.com.
Skeleton Coast Safaris’ four-day adventure involves joining a very small group in a private plane, flying to some of the remotest areas in the world, with each night spent at a different camp. It costs from US$8,335.30 (Dh30,611); www.skeletoncoastsafaris.com
The biog
Name: Abeer Al Shahi
Emirate: Sharjah – Khor Fakkan
Education: Master’s degree in special education, preparing for a PhD in philosophy.
Favourite activities: Bungee jumping
Favourite quote: “My people and I will not settle for anything less than first place” – Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid.
The years Ramadan fell in May
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Gothia Cup 2025
4,872 matches
1,942 teams
116 pitches
76 nations
26 UAE teams
15 Lebanese teams
2 Kuwaiti teams
Three tips from La Perle's performers
1 The kind of water athletes drink is important. Gwilym Hooson, a 28-year-old British performer who is currently recovering from knee surgery, found that out when the company was still in Studio City, training for 12 hours a day. “The physio team was like: ‘Why is everyone getting cramps?’ And then they realised we had to add salt and sugar to the water,” he says.
2 A little chocolate is a good thing. “It’s emergency energy,” says Craig Paul Smith, La Perle’s head coach and former Cirque du Soleil performer, gesturing to an almost-empty open box of mini chocolate bars on his desk backstage.
3 Take chances, says Young, who has worked all over the world, including most recently at Dragone’s show in China. “Every time we go out of our comfort zone, we learn a lot about ourselves,” she says.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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Zayed Sustainability Prize
How to donate
Send “thenational” to the following numbers or call the hotline on: 0502955999
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The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl turbo
Power: 247hp at 6,500rpm
Torque: 370Nm from 1,500-3,500rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 7.8L/100km
Price: from Dh94,900
On sale: now
What are the main cyber security threats?
Cyber crime - This includes fraud, impersonation, scams and deepfake technology, tactics that are increasingly targeting infrastructure and exploiting human vulnerabilities.
Cyber terrorism - Social media platforms are used to spread radical ideologies, misinformation and disinformation, often with the aim of disrupting critical infrastructure such as power grids.
Cyber warfare - Shaped by geopolitical tension, hostile actors seek to infiltrate and compromise national infrastructure, using one country’s systems as a springboard to launch attacks on others.
