“The German government‘s failure to disclose information about Iran’s possible violations of sanctions contradicts the country’s past practice,” according to a German media report.
By World Israel News Staff
Germany has refused to disclose the number of attempts by the Iranian regime to obtain illicit nuclear weapons and rocket technology, according to Fox News.
The U.S. network says it obtained a letter, written on March 18, from the German Foreign Ministry stating that “a statistic in the field of foreign trade is not kept at the [German] customs criminal office.”
According to the report, the letter was written by Niels Annen, a minister of state in the ministry, who celebrated the 40th anniversary of Islamic Republic of Iran’s revolution in February at the Iranian Embassy in Berlin.
The German Left party had sent a parliamentary query in late February to the federal government, asking for the number of cases, investigations, and the nature of the results covering Iran’s violations of sanctions conducted by Germany’s customs criminal office between 2015 and 2018, says Fox.
According to a report by the German t-online news outlet, the German government‘s failure to disclose information about Iran’s possible violations of sanctions contradicts the country’s past practice. “Until 2004, the federal government had the data of the Customs Criminal Office still country-specific and detailed in their arms export reports,” reported t-online.
“We have nothing to add to the reply of Minister of State Annen,” a spokesperson for German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in a statement to Fox News.
Fox News previously reviewed a German intelligence report in 2018 which stated that “Iran continued to undertake, as did Pakistan and Syria, efforts to obtain goods and know-how to be used for the development of weapons of mass destruction and to optimize corresponding missile delivery systems.”
The report was based on Iranian regime activity in Germany, says the U.S. news network.
According to the document, “Iran has continued unchanged the pursuit of its ambitious program to acquire technology for its rocket and missile delivery program.”
A spokesperson for Germany’s Foreign Ministry reiterated to Fox News the European Council position from February regarding Iran’s rocket program.
“The Council is also gravely concerned by Iran’s ballistic missile activity and calls upon Iran to refrain from these activities, in particular, ballistic missile launches that are inconsistent with U.N. Security Council resolution 2231. Iran continues to undertake efforts to increase the range and precision of its missiles, together with increasing the number of tests and operational launches,” the spokesman said.