“Over and over, Iran goes there to buy things,” including high-strength maraging steel, specialty vacuum pumps, Kevlar and carbon fiber used for machinery that produces enriched uranium, said Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) in Washington.
During a visit to Beijing in September, Robert Einhorn, the State Department’s special adviser for nonproliferation and arms control, discussed with Chinese officials the US concerns that some Chinese companies violate UN sanctions against Iran, perhaps without the knowledge of the Chinese government.
Albright, who said his institute advises companies on suspicious purchase inquiries, cited examples of European companies being duped into selling sensitive materials to Iranian smuggling networks posing as Chinese companies.
While the US and Europe have developed law enforcement and export control networks to detect Iranian front companies attempting to buy dual-use technology or materials, in China there’s ‘‘still a large amount’’ of equipment and materials that reaches Iranian buyers, Albright said.
‘‘To a German supplier in China, it looks like a domestic sale where export controls don’t even come into play,’’ Albright said. ‘‘It turns out that company is a front for an Iranian smuggling network.’’