Customs at Frankfurt airport found a delivery of Siemens AG equipment that was headed to Iran, German weekly
Der Spiegel reported on Saturday night.
The switches, components and computer modules, manufactured by the German engineering giant, were allegedly headed for Moscow in June, and from there would be sent to the nuclear reactor at Bushehr,
despite EU sanctions on Iran.
RELATED:German nuke tech reaching Iran via DubaiActivists demand Siemens halt Iran tradeGerman customs told
Der Spiegel that since late 2009, about half a dozen deliveries to Iran were caught leaving Frankfurt, from three German companies other than Siemens.
Siemens AG announced in January, at its annual stockholder meeting, that
it is severing its business ties with Iran. Stop the Bomb, a pro-Israel
NGO in Austria and Germany, had mounted a sophisticated yearlong
pressure campaign to force Siemens to shut down its Iran operation.
The decision to pull the plug on new contracts with Teheran took place a
day before the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. Siemens
exploited slave labor during WWII in Auschwitz.
"Beginning in the middle of this year [2010] we will not accept new
business with Iran," Siemens CEO Peter Löscher said at the shareholder
meeting in Munich.
Benjamin Weinthal contributed to this article.