Clandestine Channels and Proliferation
An Iranian and a German have been charged by German authorities with illegally exporting long-range missile materials. The Iranian, Mohsen Afrasiabi, bought an expensive furnace used to harden guidance systems against the intense temperatures associated with ICBM flight. The German, Mr. Heinz Ulrich, helped cover up the purchase by telling the firm that Afrasiabi was the final recipient (rather than the Iranian regime). The men were working an end-run around sanctions and arms export embargoes imposed on Iran by Europe.This story out of Germany comes on the same day that Agence France Presse reports that North Korea continues, through Chinese shell companies and other means, to smuggle into North Korea materials for use in missile launches, despite sanctions and international bans.
Both of these stories point to the need for multi-pronged strategies against rogue actors like Iran and North Korea. Sanctions, by themselves, are insufficient. Tight export controls, especially in militarily advanced places like the U.S. and much of Western Europe, must be vigilantly enforced. Additionally, good intel—whether from electronic or human sources (or both)—is essential to ensuring the possibility of the clear-eyed and muscular diplomacy that can be the only alternative to war with such regimes.
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