Pretoria - The British MI6 secret service asked South Africa’s State Security Agency in 2009 to block the export of sensitive technology from a South African company to Iran where it said that it could be used to make missiles, that could carry nuclear warheads.
It also asked South Africa to stop a dual Iranian/South African citizen and another individual working in this company from travelling to Iran to work on equipment that had already been exported from the South African company Electrical Resistance Furnaces SA (Erfco). This is revealed in one of the secret cables leaked to the network Al Jazeera and published on its website.
The MI6 cables said an Iranian entity, LMI, was “in the advanced stages of procuring a furnace and accessories from Erfco”.
It said LMI was a front company set up by Iran’s Shahid Sattari Ground Equipment Industries (SSGEI) which was an organisation responsible for producing missile launchers and ground support equipment and the development of rocket bodies.
SSGEI was in turn a subsidiary of Shahid Bakeri Industrial Group (SBIG) which was responsible for Iran’s solid-propelled ballistic missile programme which was designated by the UN Security Council. The MI6 cable said although the details of the furnace were not available, “it will significantly enhance Iran’s ability to produce ballistic missiles, including some which would be suitable for carrying nuclear warheads”.
It added that LMI – also known as Esfahan Steel Alloy Complex – was expecting delivery of equipment in early November 2009 and was expecting a further visit by Erfco personnel in January 2010 for the final start-up of the equipment provided by Erfco.
It noted that Iranian entities associated with Iran’s Defence Industries Organisation – also a designated entity under UN Security Council restriction – had paid Erfco between $500 000 and $1 million between 2007 and 2009. It asked the SSA to stop the individuals from Erfco visiting Iran and any other dealings by Erfco with LMI/Esfahan.
The cable asked SSA to check an individual who had contacted MI6 from Durban claiming to have knowledge of a sheikh in the city who was radicalising Muslim youths there. The individual who contacted MI6 said a certain person (whose name Al Jazeera deleted) planned to travel to Somalia in November (presumably to join the extremist group al-Shabaab) and he also said a number of Durban youths had travelled to Kandahar, Afghanistan, (presumably to join the Taliban).
Independent Foreign Service