Arms to Iran

Malta is mentioned in a report in The Observer about a UK customs probe that reveals sanctions-busting sales of arms, missile technology and nuclear components to Iran:

..Undeterred, he sent the consignment without licence to Malta with instructions for an onward shipment to an Iranian company. British investigators later discovered that the 'firm' was the Iranian Ministry of Defence. Other paperwork uncovered by officials revealed that Salashoor had also received arms orders from the Iranian air force and navy.

The operation was conducted under the auspices of the missile technology control regime, an arrangement involving 34 countries and aimed at tackling 'weapons of mass destruction'. Salashoor has been jailed for 18 months and told to surrender more than £430,000 in assets. Anxiety mounted recently after satellite imagery appeared to indicate a previously unknown facility in its long-range missile programme.

Another Briton, John Knight, one of Britain's most experienced arms dealers, has also been jailed for four years after trying to sell 130 machine guns in an Iranian deal. Millionaire Knight, who lived in a gated community in Kent and was regarded by neighbours as a normal businessman, traded through an offshore company, Endeavour Resources, based in the British Virgin Islands.