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© KYODOJapanese firm probed over sale of ship to Iran
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© KYODO
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obladi
I don’t see how a ship would constitute a 1997 cargo ship could lead to the "development of weapons of mass destruction."
kaynide
@Odladi - I would suggest you consider not the ship itself but the tech/computer systems onboard and how they might be repurposed. Guidance/GPS/navigational data can be quite useful for things other than a cargo ship, after all.
No disrespect meant, just a response to your "not seeing how X could lead to Y".
Peter Neil
No.
obladi
Wasn't there a similar case involving farm equipment? I think this sounds like over-zealous prosecution (with a little xenophobia thrown in for good measure).
obladi
@kaynide
No offense taken, but if that's the case the prosecutors should state it explicitly. It's not cool to push people around for what might be
BRS
Japanese media are not suggesting (in Japanese) that the sale is a national security concern. Rather, the broker is alleged to have falsified customs declarations.
https://www.jiji.com/jc/article?k=2024020700468&g=soc
No technology was exported to Iran. The insinuation that selling a 27-year-old hulk to Iran and the development of weapons of mass destruction by the Ayatollahs is causal or somehow linked is completely irrelevant to this story but typical of Kyodo's English-language reporting.
masterblaster
It's not so much that the ship could be a weapon of mass destruction, but can be used to smuggle parts to other nations.
Desert Tortoise
Iran and North Korea both use small cargo ships to move arms, missiles, missile components and nuclear materials. If you have never sailed the North Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman you know the waters are extremely crowded with all kinds of smaller ships. A small cargo ship can go unnoticed and are the preferred means for Iran to ship arms to its proxies in Yemen and Lebanon. Likewise Iran and North Korea engage in a brisk arms trade and exchange both ballistic missile and cruise missile tech and the hardware itself. That is the utility of ships like that to agencies involved in weapons development.
John
The case is not about the ship, it is about falsified document.
starpunk
If Iran isn't under economic sanctions they should be.