Germany arrests 4 men suspected of busting Iran embargo

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Prosecutors said some 90 customs officers arrested the men - one German and three with dual German and Iranian citizenship, at their homes in the northern cities of Hamburg and Oldenburg and the eastern town of Weimar, and searched flats and offices.

"In 2010 and 2011 the suspects are believed to have helped in the delivery of special valves for the construction of a heavy water reactor in Iran and therefore to have broken the Iran embargo," prosecutors said in a statement on Wednesday.

To avoid export controls, the men are suspected of having described the customer as a firm based in Turkey and Azerbaijan.

"The deliveries were part of an order worth several million euros which Iran was trying to use to secure the necessary valve technology to make a heavy water reactor," said the prosecutors.

The men were therefore suspected of breaking Germany's law on foreign trade and breaching military weapons controls.

Prosecutors named the men only as Kianzad Ka., Gholamali Ka., Hamid Kh. and Rudolf M. Customs officials also searched the property of another suspect in the eastern town of Halle/Saale as well as that individual's business.

Iran has been hit with several rounds of U.N. sanctions, plus tougher measures imposed by the European Union and United States, since 2006 due to its refusal to suspend enrichment of uranium, a process that yields fuel for nuclear power stations but also nuclear bombs, depending on the level of refinement.

Iran, the world's No. 5 oil exporter, says it does not want to build a bomb but rather needs nuclear energy for electricity to meet the needs of a rapidly expanding population.

Earlier, Standard Chartered Plc reached a $340 million settlement with New York's bank regulator for transactions linked to Iran although the bank may still face investigations into transactions by other U.S.

"Customs officials also searched the property of another suspect in the eastern town of Halle/Saale as well as that individual's business.Iran has been hit with several rounds of U.N"agencies.

The New York Financial Services Superintendent had this month accused Standard Chartered of breaking U.S. sanctions on Iran, saying it had hidden Iran-linked transactions worth a total of $250 billion from regulators. (Reporting by Madeline Chambers; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

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