Oral question asked in the House of Commons, by Philip Hollobone (Conservative). It was answered on Monday, 12 December 2005 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

Iran

Question: What assessment have Her Majesty's Government made of the potential leakage to Iran of personnel and knowledge connected with Pakistan's nuclear programme?

Answer: We continually keep that under review. It is not possible, by the very nature of intelligence matters, to be definite about these things. However, we know, for instance, that Iran has made no secret of its aspirations to develop a satellite launch capability, which of course has a very close relationship with the technology required for longer-range missile systems. We also know that Iran is proclaiming its desire to develop civil nuclear capacity in the context of the International Atomic Energy Agency's revelations that it has been trying to deceive the international community by developing a nuclear weapons facility. There are also the public statements by the President of Iran, threatening to wipe off the map another member of the United Nations. Taken together, those matters alert us to a serious problem, which is not only ours but that of the international community.

Secondary information