Controversy Continues in Israel Over Submarine Purchase from Company with 'Iranian Shares'

After Israeli media reported in recent days, citing a 'research' from Yedioth Ahronoth about an 'Iranian connection' in the Israeli government's deal with the German company ThyssenKrupp for the purchase of submarines, an Israeli defense official stated that he was unaware of Iranian shares in this German company. Haaretz reported on Sunday, December 14, that General Amos Gilad, Director General of Political and Security Affairs at the Israeli Ministry of Defense, said he was personally 'unaware' of Iran's shareholding in ThyssenKrupp. Meanwhile, this senior defense official added that his lack of awareness regarding Iran's shares in ThyssenKrupp does not mean that the Ministry of Defense was uninformed about Iran's role in this industrial complex. On the other hand, Haaretz quoted 'a senior official from the Israeli Ministry of Defense' stating that for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, hearing information about Iran's partnership in ThyssenKrupp was new. Avi Dichter, head of the National Security Committee of the Israeli Knesset, said this matter needs to be thoroughly investigated. Haaretz reported on Sunday, December 14, that after the Israeli deal, ThyssenKrupp transferred hundreds of millions of dollars to its shareholders. Two weeks ago, the Israeli prosecutor ordered the police to investigate the connection of one of Netanyahu's personal lawyers in the deal with Germany, but now the media in the country have raised other aspects of this matter. Yedioth Ahronoth reported on Friday, December 12, that the Israeli government claimed it had 'worked for years to prevent international transactions with Iran, but now it has become clear that Israeli money in the submarine deal is also reaching the Iranian government.' About five percent of ThyssenKrupp's shares are held by IFIC, the Iranian government's foreign investment institution. According to Yedioth Ahronoth, Dr. Farhad Zargari, the director of Iran's foreign investment company, recently confirmed in an interview with the financial studies journal 'Business Year' that Iran's ownership of a small portion of ThyssenKrupp shares continued in 2016. Yedioth Ahronoth reminded that Iran's presence in the Krupp cartel is a historical matter dating back to the actions of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi's government at the height of Iran's financial power after the global oil price increase in the 1970s. Iran's shareholding in this German industrial cartel began in 1974 by the order of the then king of Iran to save the Krupp company from bankruptcy and reached 25 percent or more by 1977. After the change of government in Iran, Iran's shareholding in Krupp was limited, although Mohammad Mahdi Nobakht Motlagh, the then Deputy Minister of Economy of the Islamic Republic of Iran, was a member of the supervisory board of ThyssenKrupp for eight years. When George W. Bush labeled Iran as part of the 'Axis of Evil' in 2003 and threatened that American transactions with ThyssenKrupp would not take place and that the company would be blacklisted, this German industrial giant paid 406 million euros to persuade Iran to sell eight percent more of its shares. Since that year, Iran's share in ThyssenKrupp has been limited to about five percent, and Iran has been removed from its supervisory council, a situation that has continued to this day. According to Yedioth Ahronoth, the Israeli deal with ThyssenKrupp is problematic not only because of the transfer of money to Iran but also due to the risk of 'leaking Israeli military secrets.' Yedioth Ahronoth reported that HDW, the marine industries division of the ThyssenKrupp group, builds submarines and also the Sa'ar 6 corvettes for Israel, raising the question of whether important Israeli military information could be transferred to Iran. Israeli media recently claimed that David Shimron, one of Netanyahu's lawyers, played a role in facilitating the submarine deal and, at the request of the prosecutor's office, Mr. Shimron must be investigated by the Israeli police. Netanyahu's office stated that Mr. Shimron's personal business matters were not considered in this deal, but security needs were taken into account. Netanyahu stated that the need for purchasing more modern submarines to protect discovered gas fields in the Mediterranean Sea had been felt for two years. Israeli and German media reported two months ago that the three ordered submarines could also be capable of carrying nuclear warheads. In this context, Spiegel: Israel is equipping German-made submarines with nuclear warheads.