Germany will be selling rocket material to Iran

Koblenz, Germany - A 63-year-old German businessman on trial for
selling Iran 16 tons of graphite to make rocket nozzles, has admitted
the offence, a court spokesman said Wednesday.

At the opening of his trial on April 8, the man told a state superior
court in Koblenz, Germany that he rejected all 12 counts of the
indictment.

But in a statement read out by his lawyer this week, the defendant
admitted the charges, the spokesman said.

The man is accused of breaking laws preventing illicit arms exports by
declaring the graphite exported from 2005 to
2007 to be low grade.

This would have avoided the need to apply for a government clearance
which would almost certainly have been refused.

German intelligence suspects the graphite was bought for Iran's
missile programme. Tehran is suspected of secretly developing nuclear
weapons which could be delivered as the payload of the missiles.