“In order to obtain the necessary know-how and corresponding components, these states are trying to establish business contacts to companies in high-technology countries like Germany,” said the Bavarian intelligence report in its section on weapons of mass destruction.
The German agency is the rough equivalent of the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency).
The intelligence report defines proliferation as “the unauthorized spread of atomic, biological, chemical weapons of mass destruction or the products used for their manufacture as well as the corresponding weapon carrier systems, including the necessary know-how.”
With respect to the section of the report on the Islamic Republic’s espionage activities, the intelligence document stated that “Germany remains in the focus of intelligence activities. This includes information from foreign and security policy as well as business and science. An additional focus [of Iran’s intelligence services] is the observation of, and fight against, opposition groups domestically and abroad.”
Hezbollah, the Iranian regime’s chief strategic ally in the Middle East, has 30 members in Bavaria, according to the report. The Bavarian intelligence officials noted that there are 1,050 Hezbollah members across Germany. Last year, Germany’s government outlawed Hezbollah’s activities in the federal republic. The US, Canada, the Arab League, Israel, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and many other European and Latin American countries classify Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.