Little public attention has been given to Iran’s chemical weapons program for many years as the world has focused mainly on Iran’s nuclear program. The cable shows the United States is, however, not ignoring Iran’s chemical efforts.
The Islamic Republic denies that it has a chemical weapons program, but it started the program during the 1980-88 war and is known to have used chemical weapons on the battlefield against Iraq. However, unlike Iraq, Iran is never known to have used chemical weapons as a part of an offensive; it only used chemicals in response to an Iraqi attack with chemical weapons.
According to a US cable that is part of WikiLeaks documents obtained by the Israeli daily Haaretz, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton instructed the US Embassy in Beijing to move against a Chinese company involved in the transfer of chemical warfare equipment and technology to Iran.
The document, dated July 24, 2009, says Iran has a secret plant near Qom that is part of its chemical weapons program.
The document identifies the Chinese supplier as Zibo Chemet, saying it has supplied equipment forbidden under the regulations of the Australia Group, which supervises the sale of sensitive chemical technology, equipment and materials. China is member of the Australia Group, and thus has pledged to bar sales to Iran of the equipment Zibo has sold to Iran.
According to the cable, “We have new information indicating that Zibo Chemet transferred technology for the production of glass-lined reactor equipment to Iranian customers, significantly enhancing Iran’s ability to produce indigenously chemical equipment suitable for a chemical warfare program.”
The cable tells the US Embassy in Beijing to pass on information about the company to the Chinese government and insist it take aggressive action to stop the shipments.
The cable says the Chinese company was blacklisted in April 2007 by the United States amid suspicions that it had supplied similar equipment to Iran, North Korea and Syria. The earlier complaint led the Chinese government to open an investigation into the company and take “limited punitive action,” which is not detailed in the cable.
According to the cable, the Chinese company “recently transferred Australia Group-controlled technology to manufacture glass-lined chemical reactor vessels to the Iranian entity Shimi Azarjaam. This glass-lining plant is located in Shokoohieh Industrial Park, Qom.”
The equipment supplied by Zibo Chemet included technology and expertise that would allow the Iranian company to produce glass-lined reactor vessels resistant to the chemicals they contain. The raw chemicals from which weapons such as nerve gas are produced are placed into these containers, which must be glass-coated so the chemicals don’t eat away at their containers and enter the air.
During the 1980-88 war, one of the major suppliers for Iran’s chemical program was an Israeli businessman, Nahum Manbar, now serving 16 years in prison. He is due to be released in two years.