Looks as if the Bulgarians are really on their toes!
Zirconium is used in nuclear reactors to stop fuel rods corroding and can also be used as part of a nuclear warhead. The metal can be extracted from zirconium silicate and its trade is usually tightly controlled.
WTF?!
Hmmm.. Is this a strange story or what? the Brits didn't seem to be to forthcoming about which "British company: (hello murdering jihadist front company. The story has a certain " what me worry?" flavor.
"Last night a DTI spokesman confirmed: "Exporters do not need a licence to transport this sort of material to Iran. It is not covered by our export controls."
Oh good
Hoooeeeey. My husband works with those soil-testers here in the US. He said they are highly controlled here.
I hope they were not profiling. Sarcasm off.
This may be a dumb question... why would Britain be way over there to get something to Iran?
These deals are never done via an officially direct approach from the receiving government/client. There is alwatys at least one or two middlemen/trading companies in the country of origin between the OEM and the foriegn buyer. So my guess is the "U.K" company that sold the goods was first approached by a "U.K" company representing the potential buyer.
One should look into just who are the investors in the companies in the U.K. that were involved - the company that sold the devices and the trading company that brokered the deal to the Iranian government.
Great Britain has become the dominant country for Middle East financiers and investors in Europe and Iran is the sixth largest export client for Britain.