Iran one of chief culprits of espionage in Germany - intelligence report
"The main actors in espionage activities in the Federal Republic of Germany are still the Russian Federation, the People's Republic of China and Iran."
By BENJAMIN WEINTHALSpy wars(photo credit: REUTERS,JPOST STAFF)
The Islamic Republic of Iran, China and Russia are the chief culprits of illegal surveillance in the federal republic, a German intelligence report released on Wednesday asserted.“The main actors in espionage activities in the Federal Republic of Germany are still the Russian Federation, the People’s Republic of China and Iran,” according to the intelligence report from the state of Brandenburg, which was reviewed by The Jerusalem Post.The report also noted that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Islamic regime spies on the leader’s political opponents.Iran’s regime has conducted illicit proliferation activities in Germany since the 2015 Iran nuclear deal was reached with Tehran. In exchange for Tehran agreeing to curbs on its nuclear program, the world powers – including Germany – provided considerable economic sanctions relief to Iran.The Post reported in May that a German state intelligence report from Bavaria said Iran is “making efforts to expand its conventional arsenal of weapons with weapons of mass destruction.”Iran was termed a “risk country” in the 335-page document outlining serious threats to the security and democracy of the state of Bavaria.The intelligence report defines weapons of mass destruction as “the spread of atomic, biological [or] chemical weapons of mass destruction.”The May 2019 intelligence report from the northern German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern stated: “The fight against the illegal proliferation of nuclear, biological or chemical weapons of mass destruction and the materials needed for their manufacture, as well as the corresponding delivery systems [e.g. rockets], including the necessary knowledge, in cooperation with other authorities, is also the responsibility of counterintelligence.”The intelligence report added, “From these points of view, it is essentially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea [North Korea] and the Syrian Arab Republic that need to be mentioned. The intelligence services of these countries are involved in unlawful procurement activities in the field of proliferation, using globally oriented, conspiratorial business and commercial structures.”