UK 'sells' Bomb Material To Iran

Society Pakistan & World Affairs
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http://www.smilies.nl/bounce/huepfenicon111.gif

The Poodler joins with the ‘Axis of Evil’. Wonder why American trust Brits

SOURCE: BBC

British officials have approved the export of key components needed to make nuclear weapons to Iran and other countries known to be developing such weapons.

An investigation by BBC Radio 4 programme File on Four will disclose that the Department of Trade and Industry allowed a quantity of the metal, Beryllium, to be sold to Iran last year.

That metal is needed to make nuclear bombs.

Britain has had an arms embargo to Iran since 1993 and has signed up to an international protocol which bans the sale of Beryllium to named countries, including Iran.

**MP’s Concerns **

Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman, Menzies Campbell, who has been alerted to the BBC programme’s material, is said to be extremely alarmed.

Beryllium is a metal with a limited number of high-tech uses in civilian industry, but is mostly used in defence applications and is a vital component in a nuclear bomb.

The programme has also interviewed a leading nuclear weapons expert in the UK who says that the Beryllium and other items which the DTI has licensed to Iran add up to a shopping list for a nuclear weapons programme.

The UK has an arms embargo against Iran, but not a trade embargo.

**Export Control Weaknesses **

The programme highlights the weaknesses in the UK’s new export control system, which was set up to stop the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

It will reveal that Iranian procurement agents have been working in the UK to get sensitive material back to Iran, and that Pakistan has also been successful in procuring material for its nuclear programme from here.

It is also likely to cause concern among Britain’s allies.

President Bush named Iran as part of an “axis of evil” accusing the Iranian regime of sponsoring terrorism.

***File on 4 is at 2000 BST on Tuesday 24 September on BBC Radio 4. ***

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Well it’s not bomb material this time, just “equipment that can be used in anti-personnel land mines.”

UK sells Iran ‘military’ equipment, BBC, 16 January 2003

Britain has given the go-ahead for the export to Iran of equipment that can be used in anti-personnel land mines. Export licences for the “dual-use” equipment were issued despite a 10-year-old unilateral arms embargo against Iran.

Foreign Office Ministers Mike O’Brien and Baroness Amos confirmed the government had issued the licences. “HMX pellets which could be suitable for use in anti-personnel mines” were approved, said Mr O’Brien in a written answer to Parliament. “The government is satisfied that these HMX pellets, specifically designed for cutting collars and perforating tubes, are intended only for the legitimate end-use stated,” he said, referring to the oil and gas industry.

A Foreign Office spokeswoman denied it meant Britain had loosened its embargo against Iran. The Middle East Association, which is heavily involved with British trade with Iran, told BBC News Online that the government had very strict criteria for allowing exports.

“Providing the government is pretty certain who the end user is, they will let it through,” said trade director Michael Thomas.

On Monday the government had said it was permitting the export of aircraft engine inspection equipment that also had a dual use. “These synchros were made as military electronic equipment. However, the Government are satisfied they are to be used only for the upkeep of the Fokker 100, a civil aircraft,” Foreign Office Minister Baroness Amos said in a written answer to the Lords. “The risk of these goods being diverted for use by the Iranian military is minimal,” she said of the latest exports.

Rolls Royce, which sells the equipment, told BBC News Online it had no knowledge of a military use for the tool. Last year the BBC revealed the Department of Trade & Industry (DTI) had given permission for the export of beryllium, a metal vital in the production of nuclear bombs, to Iran.

Britain has imposed an arms embargo, but not a trade embargo, against Iran since 1993 and has signed up to an international protocol that bans the sale of beryllium to named countries, including Iran. Other exceptions have recently been made to export dual-use goods.

In 2001, an export licence was issued to supply industrial gas turbine parts to Iran for civilian use even though some of its components were considered dual-use. President George Bush named Iran as part of an “axis of evil”, accusing the its government of sponsoring terrorism without offering specific evidence. American legislation and presidential orders ban US companies from investing or operating in Iran, and even in theory impose sanctions on third-party companies making major investments here.

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I guess even the American poodle does not buy into that ever rebounding nonsense of the "axis of evil". Then again nobody does really does, especially as almost all are still trading freely with Iran in economic and military terms.

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betya washington is gonna ignore it.