Iran never stopped trying to acquire nuclear weapons technology

Washington Free Beacon:

Iran sought to obtain illicit nuclear weapons technology as recently as 2018, according to new disclosures by German intelligence that reveal how Tehran tapped black weapons markets without the knowledge of international nuclear inspectors tasked with performing oversight on the Islamic Republic's weapons sites as part of the landmark nuclear agreement.

The disclosures come against the backdrop of Iran's weekend attack on Saudi Arabian oil sites, which sparked international backlash and prompted Tehran to warn the United States of "all-out war" if it engages in retaliatory strikes on the Islamic Republic.

With tensions escalating, the German intelligence report issued Wednesday provides grist for congressional Iran hawks seeking to pressure the Trump administration into increasing its already tough economic sanctions on Tehran.

"In particular, states such as Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, and Syria attempted to acquire and redistribute such weapons in the context of proliferation, for example by concealing transport routes via third countries," the German-language report states, according to the Jerusalem Post‘s Benjamin Weinthal, who first reported its existence.

"Against this background [of proliferation], weapons of mass destruction continued to be a powerful political instrument during the reporting period, which could shake the stability of an entire state structure in both regional and international crisis situations," the report says. "In particular, states such as Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, and Syria attempted to acquire and redistribute such weapons in the context of proliferation, for example by concealing transport routes via third countries."

Iran continues to seek the technology and know-how to quickly enrich uranium, the key component in a nuclear weapon, using advanced centrifuges.

"An example of this is the field of electrical engineering combined with the use of centrifuges in the process of uranium enrichment," according to the report. "Here, again and again, there are suspicions that foreign intelligence services put pressure on their own visiting scientists to obtain the desired technical know-how."

Iran, Pakistan, and North Korea are the primary culprits in this high-stakes nuclear proliferation effort.
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Iran's recent attack on Saudi Arabia demonstrates how dangerous it would be to allow this rogue regime to acquire nuclear weapons.  It also points out how misguided Obama's bad deal with Iran was.