Chinese firm indicted in sales to Iran

A Manhattan grand jury indicted a Chinese executive and his company on charges of covertly using U.S. banks to finance the sale of tons of restricted materials to Iran in violation of U.N. sanctions.  David Albright of the Ploughshares-funded Institute for Science and International Security assisted in the prosecution, and said it is impossible to say how Iran used the raw materials it acquired. He added, "China is a huge hole in the system. It needs help to implement its own controls."

A senior German industrialist agreed in a speech to the Carnegie International Nonproliferation Conference in Washington, citing cases in which Iran has used Chinese companies as fronts to buy equipment.