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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

German company suspected of giving arms tech to Iran

2005-05-02

FRANKFURT — Two leading Germany magazines reported on Saturday that a company is under suspicion of selling weapons technology to Iran. Der Spiegel said the company is suspected of delivering rocket-building technology to Iran as far back as 2002.

Focus weekly magazine identified the company in question as being called Tira and said its deliveries were intercepted by the intelligence agents of an ally in late 2004 in the Middle East. Both Spiegel and Focus said the German technology was intended for use in Iran's Shahab, or Shooting Star, medium-range missile programme that can carry a nuclear warhead and reach Israel and various US military bases in the region.

On Friday federal prosecutors said they were investigating a manager from a defence company in the eastern German state of Thuringia, who had been briefly detained and later released. They identified the man only as 64-year-old Peter K.

Calls to the prosecutors in Karlsruhe went unanswered on Saturday, although they refused on Friday to comment on further details. They said the man held a responsible position at the firm suspected of delivering "vibration test machines" to foreign countries.

Posted by:Steve White

#6 The distance from Iran to Germany is less than 2000 miles. The Sahaab4 (TaePongDong1 variant) and Shahab6 (TaePongDong2 variant) have ranges from 1800-2700 miles with a nice 1 ton payload. Congratulations on helping the Iranians build their outdoor German incinerators.

Posted by: ed 2005-05-02 1:58:49 PM

#5 German firms helping Iran now. German firms helped Iraq in the 90s and early 2000s.

Belgian firm helping Iran now (see elsewhere in RB).

I think a lot of shipments should start having "problems".

Posted by: too true 2005-05-02 1:42:08 PM

#4 Of course there are applicable export laws. But in reality they only apply to a company that's not connected, and they all seem to be connected. More like the Japanese approach than the American one, y'see.

Posted by: trailing wife 2005-05-02 12:03:25 PM

#3 the more things change...

Posted by: shellback 2005-05-02 11:44:49 AM

#2 Surely there are applicable export laws. If the goods sold violate the law, burn the bastards running the company. Same goes for any company anywhere. Period. Full stop. This is where our "accommodation" of Pervy and the World's Most Fucked Up Country" (tied with Somalia for the honor, IMHO) - think Khan and the point is clear - makes me ill and very pissed off at our own Govt.

If they don't, put Germany on the Terrorist Supporters list and start cutting every tie we have as fast as possible. Period. Full stop. If they don't take Iran's nuke program seriously, not to mention what they've promised to do with the first one they can deliver, then we should take steps to make it a bit clearer how we view supporting terrorists. I would think that Germany would've had its fill of being part and parcel to killing Jooos wholesale. That has been my impression for the last 50 yrs - and one reason why I always cut the German people some slack, though I find Schroeder and Fischer reprehensible.

The temptation is to make this all very complicated. It's not, actually. Either prove you're a good guy by doing the right thing when the choices are presented, or be bunched over in the corner with the bad guys. You can NOT have it both ways.

Posted by: .com 2005-05-02 2:44:34 AM

#1 When we find out about these sales we should kill the management of the companies. They might get the message then. Otheriwse they just keep doing it. Germany is a repeat offender.

Posted by: Sock Puppet 0â Doom 2005-05-02 12:52:14 AM

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