Mick Hartley

The North Korean link to Syrian nuclear procurement – which led to the Israeli bombing of the al-Kibar reactor in 2007 - is well-known. Less well known, but more relevant now in the wake of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and the recent relaxing of sanctions, is the DPRK connection with Tehran. Kyle Orton:

The nuclear links between DPRK and Iran are also noteworthy. The “father” of Iran’s nuclear-weapons program, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh-Mahabadi, was reportedly present for all three previous DPRK nuclear tests—in 2006, 2009, and 2013—and Iranian officials were believed to be on-hand for what Pyongyang claimed was a H-bomb test on January 6, 2016. This has given Iran access to crucial test data. And DPRK has also mastered more efficient centrifuges than Iran. Under the JCPOA, the research-and-development loophole will allow Iran to develop more advanced centrifuges and eventually install them so that it is within dashing distance of a nuclear weapon at the end of the JCPOA—and that’s just if it sticks to the deal. DPRK will almost certainly have a role to play in Iran making these advances.

Even worse is that the DPRK’s assistance to Iran in its incremental drive to a nuclear bomb could be rendered moot by “a single IL-76 cargo flight from North Korea—which may, or may not, be detected by Western intelligence.”

As Iran proceeds toward regional hegemony and at least the threshold of nuclear weapons, its newly-public condominium with Russia is getting a lot of the attention, but its criminal ally on the Korean Peninsula should not be forgotten. With more money available to Tehran after the sanctions relief, the DPRK an honorary member of Iran’s “Axis of Resistance” since 2012, and the perennially cash-strapped Kim dynasty having only conventional and unconventional weapons to sell, it can be expected that the JCPOA will not only unlock more mischief in the Middle East but in East Asia, too.

Worth reading in full.