Sebastian Rotella On Italian Arms Dealing To Iran

A recent report by Sebastian Rotella revealed the details behind the Italian arms shipments to Iran. In a podcast, Rotella talks to Sharona Coutts about Iran’s arms procurement networks, the Italian business people involved, and other aspects of the story.

by Mike Webb

April 2, 2010, 3:10 p.m. EDT

In a report published earlier this week, Sebastian Rotella reveals the details behind the Italian arms shipments to Iran. Rotella’s vivid and human portrait shows the maneuvers the dealers made, the wide cast of characters involved (including Italian politicians and an Iranian journalist accused of being a spy) and the events that led to their downfall.

Rotella talks to Sharona Coutts about this report and offers insight into Iran’s arms procurement networks, the connected Italian business people who thought they could get away with it because of lax enforcement of trade rules, the amounts of money involved and whether the arms that were sold to Iran were used against American and European forces by the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Listen to the podcast.

Articles related to this podcast:

Iran’s Efforts to Buy Embargoed Arms Revealed in Italian Case

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