British authorities told a United Nations sanctions panel that they have discovered an active Iranian network attempting to buy uranium enrichment technology on the black market, Reuters reported.
"The UK government informed the Panel on 20 April 2015 that it 'is aware of an active Iranian nuclear procurement network which has been associated with Iran's Centrifuge Technology Company (TESA) and Kalay Electric Company (KEC)'," the U.N. panel monitoring Iran's sanction compliance wrote in its annual report.
KEC is currently under U.N. Security Council sanctions, while TESA is under U.S. and European sanctions that prohibit them from "pursuing sensitive nuclear activities, including uranium enrichment, as well as ballistic missile work," Reuters reported.
Confirmation of the report would be a breach of U.N. Security Council resolutions, potentially triggering harsher sanctions and call into question whether Iran can be trusted to adhere to an international nuclear accord expected to be reached by June 30.
Negotiators hope to reach an agreement that would provide sanctions relief in exchange for Iran cutting its uranium enrichment capacity by 70 percent, and reducing its stockpile of low-enriched uranium by 97 percent, according to The Guardian.
Mark Fitzpatrick, a nuclear proliferation expert at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, told the Guardian that the revelation doesn't threaten the ongoing negotiations between Iran and six world powers.
"It's no surprise that Iran has continued procurement efforts for its nuclear program. The Iranian leadership freely admits it. But this has little bearing on Iran's trustworthiness to abide by a deal that limits its program. It would feel an obligation to abide by limits to which it agrees, as opposed to UN security council resolutions which it argues were unjustly imposed on it," Fitzpatrick said.
"The key implication of this news is that it shows the need for new rules to regulate Iranian nuclear procurement consistent with the limits in the forthcoming comprehensive agreement," Fitzpatrick said," he added. "A replacement Security Council resolution will need to keep limits on procurement and to establish a tight monitoring mechanism."
