The German Intelligence Agency (BND) has claimed that Iran is "actively seeking" products and technology from German companies for developing weapons of mass destruction, but an Iranian political observer dismissed the accusation as a "US-Israeli conspiracy against Iran" where BND is merely a pawn.
On Thursday, Fox News reported that BND has prepared a report on Iran, claiming that the Islamic Republic "is actively seeking products and scientific know-how for the field of developing weapons of mass destruction as well as missile technology".
For the same purpose, the country is "targeting German companies through various fronts."
The 181-page manual, the broadcaster said, was published last month and released on Tuesday by officials from the heavily industrialized southern German state of Baden-Wurttemberg.
According to it, "in one case, Iran [allegedly] worked through a Chinese front company to seek 'complex metal-producing machines' from a German engineering firm. German intelligence officials blocked the sale when they told the engineering firm the merchandise was slated to be unlawfully routed to Iran."
Sputnik discussed the issue with Hassan Beheshtipour, Iranian political observer, an expert on nuclear issues and foreign policy, who called the accusations absurd.
"From the ideological point of view, the 181-page report could be regarded as a new attempt by the Israeli and American intelligence services and the Zionist lobby to discredit Iran with the help of Germany. It looks like a new scenario for the implementation of schemes they plotted back in 2001 and which they later modified into the anti-Iranian dossier on the nuclear program. However, they failed," he said.
No Evidence
Not a single piece of evidence has been submitted that Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons.
The expert said it has been proved that Iran's nuclear research pursues purely peaceful purposes.
"Therefore the intelligence services decided to concentrate their efforts on [Iran's] missile program and allege it has the capacity to produce weapons of mass destruction," he said.
Beheshtipour pointed out a number of mismatches that reveal a frame-up.
"First of all, Iran was one of the first countries to condemn and oppose the spread of weapons of mass destruction. It actively cooperates with the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. It has also stepped up its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency on the various stages of verification and inspection, especially after the signing of the 2015 nuclear deal," he said.
"Iran strictly fulfills all the protocols with regard to nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty under the full control of IAEA. No doubts have been left with regard to its nuclear program. And there are no doubts that Iran makes no attempts to develop a weapon of mass destruction".
The expert reminded that Iran's missile program is of purely defensive, and not offensive nature.
"With regard to the defensive program, which also includes the missile program, it is even more transparent. Iran repeatedly reiterated that it has the right to self-defense and will never negotiate on this issue," he said.
The country's missile program, he added, falls within conventional weapons.
Necessity of Missile Drive
Iran's defense industry, which also includes the missile program, had taken center stage during the Iran-Iraq war (1980-88) when the regime of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was bombing Iranian cities.
Iran was forced to turn to many countries with the request to supply missile weaponry to be able to defend itself. It had no missile engineering at that time. However, practically no country responded to its requests. It gave an impulse to Tehran to develop missile engineering. Beheshtipour said Iran has reached high success in the defense sector and now possesses its own technologies, so it simply does not need any German or Chinese know-how.
"Thus, all the accusations against Iran, put forward in this report, are absolutely absurd. Iran is developing missiles of various ranges purely for its defense purposes in case of an external attack. Iranian missile program is of defensive and not offensive character. It is a means of containment, and not aggression," he concluded.
