8) In May this year the US State Department issued fresh sanctions against the SPND, warning that it was working on “dual-use research and development activities applicable to nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons delivery systems”, and attempting to procure technology from abroad.

5) Shortly before the visit, the delegation’s lead wrote to a Russian supplier to enquire about buying tritium, strontium-90, and nickel-63 - radioactive isotopes with civilian uses, but which are tightly controlled and monitored under non-proliferation rules.

3) Most of the delegation travelled on Iranian diplomatic service passports, some freshly issued and with sequential numbers. One was the ex-CEO of a US sanctioned nuclear procurement front company. Another was an Iranian military counter intelligence officer.

2) The FT has found that this delegation included individuals with links to the SPND, an Iranian military-scientific unit described by the US as “the direct successor organisation to Iran’s pre-2004 nuclear weapons programme”.

Thank you to The Sunday Long Read for featuring my
FT Weekend Magazine story “The fugitive prince” in their excellent weekly email round up:

My story in the FT Weekend Magazine today - The Fugitive Prince: how a man with a claim to a royal title and a vast fortune made a deal with a notorious businessman that cost him more than he could have imagined.
www.ft.com/content/51f8...