May 28, 2021

This month’s newsletter includes an analysis of the recent seizure by the
U.S. Navy of a suspected Iranian weapon shipment to militants in Yemen. The
newsletter also features an update to a report and chronology on the laws
and executive orders underpinning current U.S. sanctions on Iran.

In addition, the newsletter features profiles of Iranian universities
involved in research related to weapons of mass destruction and news about
a German court case involving an Iranian bank, Iran’s rocket assistance to
Palestinian militants, and a last-minute agreement between Iran and the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to preserve monitoring records of
nuclear facilities. Other items include documents from the Iran Watch
library on developments in Iran’s nuclear and missile programs and U.S.
efforts to enforce sanctions on Iran.

[1]View the newsletter in your browser and [2]subscribe to receive it in
your inbox.

PUBLICATIONS

[3]

International Enforcement Action | [4]U.S. Navy Seizes Suspected Shipment
of Iranian Weapons to Yemen

Earlier this month, the U.S. Navy announced that it had intercepted a
merchant vessel transporting “an illicit shipment of weapons” in the
Arabian Sea. Concurrent media reporting suggests that the ship intended to
deliver the weapons from Iran to the Houthis, a group of Iranian-backed
rebels in Yemen subject to a United Nations arms embargo. The circumstances
of this interdiction bear similarities to other suspected Iranian attempts
to ship weapons to the Houthis, an indication that Iranian military aid to
the rebels continues despite the U.N. restrictions and Iran’s own
assertions to the contrary.

[5]READ THE ENFORCEMENT ACTION

[6]

Report Update | [7]Washington Tightens the Screws

The U.S. administration is seeking to reenter the Joint Comprehensive Plan
of Action (JCPOA), the nuclear agreement reached in 2015 with Iran and six
other parties. This effort has been complicated, however, by the previous
administration’s “maximum pressure” policy. This policy layered multiple
new sanctions on Iranian entities already targeted for proliferation,
making the sanctions more difficult to unwind. In this context, it is worth
recalling the breadth of U.S. laws and executive orders that restrict trade
and investment with Iran and punish proliferation, terrorism, and arms
transfers.

[8]VIEW THE REPORT

ENTITIES OF CONCERN

Iran’s academic institutions, many of them tied to the military, play a
role in the country’s research relevant to weapons of mass destruction.
They provide expertise to Iran’s nuclear program and its development of
ballistic missiles.

[9]Amirkabir University of Technology (AUT)

An Iranian higher education technical and engineering institute; has
conducted research relevant to uranium enrichment, the development of a
nuclear implosion device, and missile guidance; has hosted centrifuge rotor
tests conducted without nuclear material for Iran’s uranium enrichment
program; faculty have conducted research on missile guidance codes.

[10]LEARN MORE

[11]Imam Hussein University (IHU)

A public university and military academy overseen by the Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) that is involved in nuclear, missile,
chemical weapon-related, and military research; has reportedly worked on
developing a solid-fuel satellite launch vehicle in cooperation with the
IRGC Research and Self-Sufficiency Jihad Organization.

[12]LEARN MORE

[13]Shahid Beheshti University (SBU)

An Iranian university that carries out scientific research relevant to the
development of nuclear weapons, according to the European Union; has
studied the optimal parameters for a cascade of gas centrifuges; has
conducted research on the separation of uranium from wastewater using
electrodialysis.

[14]LEARN MORE

IN THE NEWS

[15]

[16]U.S. Sanctions Should Not Stop EU Business with Iran, EU Court Adviser
Says | Reuters

May 12: Advocate General Gerard Hogan, an official at the European Court of
Justice in Luxembourg, said in a nonbinding opinion that an EU company may
not legally stop doing business with an Iranian company if the EU company
acted solely out of concern of being affected by U.S. sanctions on Iran.
The opinion was a response to a request for advice from judges who were
hearing a case in German courts. A German company, Telekom Deutschland,
terminated a contract with Bank Melli, an Iranian financial institution
that has a branch office in Hamburg, in response to the reimposition of
U.S. sanctions on Iran in 2018, leading Bank Melli to file a lawsuit. Hogan
stated that Iranian companies should have the ability to invoke an EU
blocking statute that prohibits EU companies from complying with U.S.
sanctions. He added that the statute obliges EU companies to explain their
decisions to end commercial relations with U.S.-sanctioned Iranian
companies. The reach of U.S. secondary sanctions has been a point of
contention between the European Union and the United States.

[17]Iran Helped Hamas Develop Missile Technology Used to Attack Israel |
The Telegraph

May 15: Unnamed Western intelligence officials assert that Iran helped the
Palestinian militant group Hamas develop weapons used to strike Israel. The
officials believe that Hamas commanders routinely traveled to Iran to
receive training in the production and operation of weapons and to tour the
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC’s) own rocket-production
facilities. According to the intelligence officials, Iran has also provided
Hamas with technical advice for building weapon-production facilities in
the Gaza Strip. One official said that Iranian support, which increased
after Hamas' 2014 war with Israel, has led to “significant improvements in
terms of range, precision, and the extent of destruction” of Hamas’
weapons. Israeli defense officials have also concluded that Hamas’
medium-range M-75 and J-80 rockets, while manufactured in Gaza, are based
on Iranian designs.

[18]Iran Agrees to Extend Deal on Cameras at Its Nuclear Sites | Associated
Press

May 24: After discussions between Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of the Atomic
Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), and Rafael Mariano Grossi,
director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iran
agreed to a one-month extension of a deal allowing the IAEA to maintain
surveillance cameras at Iranian nuclear facilities. However, the AEOI has
continued to deny the IAEA access to the cameras’ recordings until the
United States lifts economic sanctions on the country. The AEOI and the
IAEA struck the initial three-month deal in February, after Iran’s
parliament passed a law curtailing Iranian compliance with the IAEA’s
Additional Protocol, an agreement that enhances the IAEA’s ability to
inspect Iranian nuclear sites. Iran had threatened to delete the recordings
from the cameras after the end of that three-month window. Grossi described
the arrangement as “not ideal” and likened it to “an emergency device.”

FROM THE LIBRARY

Envoys from the United States and the remaining parties to the JCPOA have
continued to meet in Vienna, where they hope to bring Iran and the United
States back into compliance with the nuclear accord. At the same time,
think tanks and research institutes have highlighted concerning trends in
Iran’s nuclear program and its development of ballistic missiles.
* [19]The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) spotlights
the Haji Abad missile base, run by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
(IRGC) – May 4
* [20]The U.S. State Department reports progress in Vienna negotiations
– May 6
* [21]The Institute for Science and International Security lists major
nuclear sites that Iran hid from the international community – May 18
* [22]The Center for Strategic and International Studies analyzes the
prospects of an imminent agreement between Iran and the United States – May
19
* [23]Iran consents to a one-month extension of a deal that allows the
IAEA to record videos around nuclear facilities – May 24
* [24]The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) claims to have
accumulated over 90 kilograms of uranium enriched to 20 percent – May 24

As negotiations between Iranian and U.S. diplomats in Vienna progress, the
Biden administration has maintained a parallel effort to enforce economic
sanctions on Iran.
* [25]The Commerce Department blacklists a Turkish convict linked to Iran
- May 5
* [26]A jury convicts an Iranian national of attempting to ship Iran
sensitive technology, including items relevant to the production of
missiles and nuclear weapons – May 7
* [27]Two U.S. citizens are indicted for trying to import Iranian
currency – May 13
* [28]The Treasury Department sanctions senior Iranian-backed Houthi
rebels in Yemen, one of whom received training from the IRGC – May 20
* [29]Elliptic analyzes Iran’s use of cryptocurrency to evade U.S.
sanctions – May 21

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 © 2021 - Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control

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