Berlin (DPA) – Germany has expelled an Iranian diplomat who reportedly sought to purchase equipment for his country’s controversial nuclear programme, the news magazine Der Spiegel reported Saturday. The report, released in advance of publication Monday, said the man was ordered to leave in July, but the case had not been disclosed until now.
The German Foreign Ministry declined to comment on the report.
The diplomat, an attache at Iran’s embassy in Berlin, was reported to have been in contact with a specialist firm in the southern German state of Bavaria.
The magazine said the attache was suspected of trying to procure parts that could be used in uranium enrichment.
Western nations have been calling on Iran to halt uranium enrichment, which they fear could lead to it making atomic weapons. Tehran says its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes.
