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As Israel continues striking Iran and Tehran fires missiles in retaliation, a new German intelligence report warns that Iranian efforts to acquire missile-related technology in Europe surged in 2024.
“In addition to its nuclear program, Iran pursues one of the most extensive missile programs in the Middle East,” Germany’s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), equivalent to the FBI in the US, asserted last week.
“Procurement activities in Germany in the area of Iranian missile technology/missile programs remain high – and are on the rise.”
The report added that Iran continued to violate key commitments under the 2015 nuclear deal (JCPOA), prompting the EU to maintain a partial embargo banning the transfer of sensitive goods, weapons, and delivery systems.
Calls for snapback sanctions
In May, Austria’s intelligence service concluded that Iran’s nuclear weapons development is “well advanced” and that it now has a growing arsenal of ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear warheads.
On June 12, the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency(IAEA) censured Tehran for failing to meet its safeguard obligations under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
“The E3 (Britain, France and Germany) should invoke the snapback sanctions mechanism,” Jason Brodsky, policy director at United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), told Iran International.
“Invoking snapback would restore previous UN Security Council resolutions requiring Iran to suspend all uranium enrichment and reinforce the US position of zero enrichment in Iran,” he added, pointing out that snapback would also reinstate the arms embargo and missile restrictions.
Espionage, repression, regional threats
The report also named Iran, along with Russia, China, and Turkey, as among the top four states conducting espionage, cyberattacks, influence operations, and proliferation inside Germany.
Each country, it noted, pursues different priorities.
Proliferation was defined as acquiring products and knowledge for weapons of mass destruction, delivery systems, and other advanced military technologies. Iran was mentioned 84 times in the 412-page report, which outlines threats to German democracy.
It also condemned Tehran’s domestic crackdown and support for Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“Due to the violent actions of Iranian security forces within the country and the support of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, the EU imposed further sanctions against the country in 2023 and 2024,” the report said.
German-Iranian political scientist Dr. Wahied Wahdat-Hagh told Iran International that Berlin is increasingly alarmed by Tehran’s continued defiance. He said snapback under UNSCR 2231 is likely unless Iran yields to US demands.
He also warned that Iran’s missile program poses a threat to Europe, citing its threats to close the Persian Gulf, disrupt global markets, and target countries allied with Israel.
Iran International contacted Israeli officials for comments on the German findings. No response was received at the time of publication.
British foreign secretary David Lammy is expected to deliver Washington's message to Tehran that a path to a diplomatic solution is still possible, the Financial Times reported on Thursday, after the UK top diplomat met his American counterpart at the White House.
Lammy met Marco Rubio and White House special envoy Steve Witkoff on Thursday and is set to fly to Geneva for talks with Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araghchi and his French and German counterparts on Friday, June 20.
Britain had come away with the impression that the US would prefer a “diplomatic solution”, the FT reported citing people close to the talks between Lammy and Rubio.
However, there are doubts about Iran’s willingness to strike a deal, and the same sources cautioned that US military action “remains firmly on the table," the report added.
"A window now exists within the next two weeks to achieve a diplomatic solution," Lammy said after announcing he would join the Friday talks with Araghchi.
"As long as the Security Council fails to fulfill its responsibility to stop the aggression, Iran will continue to exercise its right to respond in legitimate self-defense," Iran's UN ambassador Amir-Saeed Iravani said in a meeting with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Thursday, according to Iranian media.
The Israeli military has issued an evacuation warning to the residents of Sefidroud industrial town near Kolesh Taleshan village in Gilan province, northern Iran.
US President Donald Trump has held off authorizing a strike on Iran’s underground Fordow nuclear site due to doubts over whether the US military’s GBU-57 bunker buster bomb could effectively destroy it, the Guardian reported, citing defense officials.
Though Trump was briefed that multiple GBU-57s could disable Fordow, he remains unconvinced and is reportedly weighing whether the threat alone could push Iran toward talks.
The Pentagon’s Defense Threat Reduction Agency warned that Fordow’s depth may make conventional strikes insufficient, and only a tactical nuclear weapon could fully destroy the facility – a step Trump is not considering.
