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October 30, 2025

This month’s newsletter features an update to a timeline of milestones in
Iran’s nuclear program, as well as news about Tehran’s response to the
snapback of United Nations sanctions and China’s mechanisms for evading
sanctions on imports of Iranian oil.

Also featured are profiles of companies that will likely be involved in any
effort by Iran to resume its nuclear activities. Additions to the Iran
Watch library include the still-unfolding reactions of several countries to
snapback, recent U.S. and allied sanctions and enforcement actions, and
statements by Iran and Russia marking the entry into force of their
strategic partnership agreement.

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PUBLICATIONS

[4]

AEOI head Mohammad Eslami visits a nuclear site in Ardabil Province. (Photo
Credit: Atomic Energy Organization of Iran)

Timeline | [5]Iran's Nuclear Milestones

Iran’s nuclear program surged ahead in recent years, notably with large
increases in Tehran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, but then was
set back by Israeli and U.S. airstrikes in the summer of 2025. The program
has now entered an uncertain phase, with Iran’s diplomatic and nuclear
intentions unclear and the stage set for a contest between the Western
allies and China and Russia over the legitimacy of U.N. sanctions recently
restored by the 2015 nuclear deal’s snapback mechanism.

This timeline traces milestones in Iran’s nuclear progress from the
program’s origins in the 1960s to the revelations of its military
dimensions in the early 2000s, sanctions and diplomacy in the 2010s, rapid
expansion following the collapse of the nuclear deal in 2018, and the
bombing of Iran’s [6]nuclear facilities in 2025.

[7]VIEW THE TIMELINE

ENTITIES OF CONCERN

Iran will likely rely on experienced domestic contractors to rebuild its
nuclear program following the recent U.S. and Israeli strikes. A variety of
state-owned and private enterprises have the expertise to furnish different
aspects of the [8]Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI)’s needs.

[9]Pegah Aluminum Arak Company

A company that manufactures aluminum products for [10]Iran Centrifuge
Technology Company (TESA), a producer of centrifuges used in Iran's uranium
enrichment program; produces aluminum alloy 7075, which can be used for gas
centrifuge rotors.

[11]LEARN MORE

[12]Pars Reactors Construction and Development Company

General contractor responsible for nuclear reactor projects, including
procurement, engineering, fuel supply, construction, and commissioning;
subordinate to the AEOI.

[13]LEARN MORE

[14]Ideal Vacuum

A supplier of vacuum equipment affiliated with the [15]Organization of
Defensive Innovation and Research (SPND), a military entity involved in
nuclear weapons research; produces and procures vacuum pumps and related
accessories, such as pressure gauges.

[16]LEARN MORE

IN THE NEWS

[17]

The U.N. Security Council meets to discuss threats to international peace
and security. (Photo Credit: United Nations/Manuel Elias)

[18]Iran Says Cooperation Deal with UN Nuclear Watchdog Is Void | Reuters

October 20, 2025: Ali Larijani, the secretary of Iran's Supreme National
Security Council, said that Iran had cancelled a cooperation deal it had
agreed upon with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in
September, according to Iranian state media. Iran had threatened to cancel
the agreement if United Nations sanctions against it were reimposed through
the 2015 nuclear agreement's snapback mechanism.

[19]Iran Announces Official End to 10-Year-Old Nuclear Agreement | The
Guardian

October 18, 2025: The Iranian foreign ministry issued a statement saying
that it considered all provisions of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of
Action (JCPOA) nuclear agreement to be terminated. The foreign ministry
statement said that Iran remained committed to diplomacy, but Iranian
foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said earlier that Iran did not see a reason
to negotiate with the three European parties to the JCPOA who triggered the
agreement's snapback mechanism in August.

[20]How China Secretly Pays Iran for Oil and Avoids U.S. Sanctions | The
Wall Street Journal

October 5, 2025: China has been paying for Iranian oil using a barter-like
system in which oil purchases are repaid through Chinese state-backed
construction in Iran rather than bank transfers, according to current and
former Western officials. An Iranian-controlled seller affiliated with
Naftiran Intertrade Company (NICO) books crude sales to a Chinese buyer
affiliated with sanctioned state-owned trader Zhuhai Zhenrong. The buyer
deposits funds with a secretive financial mechanism referred to as Chuxin.
Chuxin disburses money to Chinese contractors building Iranian
infrastructure that is insured by state export-credit agency Sinosure
(formerly China Export & Credit Insurance). According to some of the
officials, up to USD $8.4 billion flowed through the conduit in 2024.

FROM THE LIBRARY

Western governments and Russia and China continued to issue sharply
divergent statements in regard to the snapback of U.N. sanctions.
* The G7 issued a [21]statement calling on all U.N. member states to
implement the restored restrictions – October 10
* New Zealand [22]announced that it had re-imposed its sanctions on Iran
in order to comply with snapback – October 17
* China, Russia, and Iran wrote a [23]joint letter to the Security
Council stating that they consider the Council’s consideration of the
Iranian nuclear issue to have expired – October 18

The United States continued its maximum pressure sanctions campaign, while
both the United States and Australia acted to enforce existing sanctions
laws.
* The U.S. State Department [24]sanctioned five individuals and a company
affiliated with the SPND, including entities involved in an Iranian nuclear
delegation to Russia – October 1
* The Treasury Department [25]targeted an international network involved
in procurement for Iran’s military and missile programs – October 1
* The Treasury Department also [26]froze the assets of companies and
individuals connected to Iraqi militia groups sponsored by Iran – October 9
* The [27]State and [28]Treasury Departments together sanctioned nearly a
hundred entities involved in Iranian energy exports – October 9
* The Australian Federal Police [29]charged a man for illicitly remitting
currency to sanctioned Iranian banks – October 15
* The Pakistani captain of a vessel smuggling Iranian missile components
to the Houthis was [30]sentenced to 40 years in prison by a U.S. court –
October 23
* The Treasury Department’s FinCEN [31]published a [32]report identifying
illicit Iranian financial transactions that traveled through U.S.
correspondent accounts in 2024 – October 23

Russia and Iran marked the entry into effect of the [33]strategic
partnership treaty they signed in January.
* Russia [34]claimed that the two countries have entered into “a
fundamentally new stage of comprehensive strategic partnership” – October 2
* Iran [35]hailed the agreement as enabling joint efforts to “confront
the growing threats and challenges” Tehran and Moscow perceive from the
West – October 3
* Russia has since given Iran emphatic [36]rhetorical backing in its
effort to delegitimize U.N. snapback sanctions – October 17

Iran Watch is a website published by the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms
Control. The Wisconsin Project is a non-profit, non-partisan organization
that conducts research, advocacy, and public education aimed at inhibiting
strategic trade from contributing to the proliferation of weapons of mass
destruction.

Copyright © 2025 - Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control

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