



Britain has informed the United Nations Iranian of attempts a year ago to buy uranium enrichment technology on the black market, it was reported on Thursday.

Such procurement efforts would, if confirmed, represent a violation of UN security council resolutions placing Iran under sanctions, but analysts said they were unlikely to derail a comprehensive nuclear agreement between Iran and six world powers.

Under the agreement, due to be completed by 30 June, Iran would accept strict limits on its nuclear programme, particularly on uranium enrichment, in return for sanctions relief.

In an annual report, obtained by the Reuters news agency, a UN panel of experts responsible for monitoring compliance with the sanctions regime, revealed: “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).’”

KEC is under security council sanctions while TESA is under American and European Union sanctions because of their suspected involvement in developing centrifuges for a uranium enrichment programme banned by the UN.

The UN panel said the British report was too recent to have been assessed independently.

A UK foreign office spokeswoman would not comment on the UN report, but said: “We are committed to negotiating a comprehensive nuclear deal with Iran. However, all UN sanctions on Iran remain in force. Until there is a new UN Security Council Resolution that changes this, all UN member states have a responsibility to enforce these sanctions, including through investigation of possible breaches.”

Mark Fitzpatrick, an expert on nuclear proliferation at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said the revelation did not represent a direct threat to the outcome of the nuclear negotiations between Iran and a six-nation group comprising the US, UK, France, Germany, Russia and China.

“It’s no surprise that Iran has continued procurement efforts for its nuclear programme. The Iranian leadership freely admits it,” Fitzpatrick said. “But this has little bearing on Iran’s trustworthiness to abide by a deal that limits its programme. 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.”

According to the broad parameters of the nuclear deal provisionally agreed in Lausanne on 2 April, Iran would accept a 70% cut in its uranium enrichment capacity, and a reduction in its stockpile of low-enriched uranium of up to 97%, in return for the lifting of sanctions. The exact sequence of reciprocal steps is one of the main issues that have to be resolved before the deadline.

In New York on Wednesday, the Iranian foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, signalled some flexibility over the sequence, saying Tehran would be prepared to wait a few weeks for the lifting of sanctions to allow for verification of self-imposed curbs on its nuclear programme.

“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. “A replacement Security Council resolution will need to keep limits on procurement and to establish a tight monitoring mechanism.”