US indicts Iranian nabbed in Philippines over nuke export plot

ABS CBN (Reuters) ^ | 07/14/2012

[nuconvert]

A US federal grand jury has indicted two men, one from Iran and the other from China, on charges of conspiring to send materials from the United States to Iran for the purpose of enriching uranium, the US Justice Department said on Friday.

Using a Chinese company as a go-between to avoid trade sanctions, the men tried for three years to obtain US materials, such as high-strength steel, that could be used in an Iranian nuclear program, the department said.

Iranian citizen Parviz Khaki was arrested in May in the Philippines, while the other man, Zongcheng Yi of China, remains at large, the department said.

The two men succeeded in illegally exporting lathes and nickel-alloy wire from the United States to China and then to Iran around June 2009, according to the indictment filed by the Justice Department.

[ASA Vet]

PI_ng

[JudgemAll]

Using a Chinese company as a go-between to avoid trade sanctions, the men tried for three years to obtain US materials, such as high-strength steel, that could be used in an Iranian nuclear program, the department said.

I feel so much better that it is legit for China to get such steel but not for Iranians... (sarc off)

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks nuconvert.

[LadyDoc]

two comments:

One, note the Chinese connection? Wonder why he was caught here in the Philippines, not in China?

Two: Actually, there are a lot of innocent Iranians here, including a lot of students: the universities are often at the level of US universities, and if you have a degree, then you can get visas into the west...study is in English.

A couple years ago, a couple medical students and their visiting families took a tour of Cebu area, and alas the tour bus fell off a cliff. A terrible tragedy for all involved, and a lot of folks in the LATimes etc. were wondering what they all were doing here. Studying, not spies.