Ample evidence suggests that Iran is cooperating with North Korea in developing nuclear technology, write Emily Landau and Alon Levkowitz. But how likely is it that the U.S. and its allies will pay much attention?
Iran has a clear interest in latching onto North Korea’s program—Pyongyang both has technology that Tehran wants and seems to care only about being paid, as demonstrated by the nuclear cooperation between North Korea and Syria. There is already evidence of Iranian-North Korean cooperation in the ballistic-missile field, cooperation with implications that extend to the nuclear realm as well.
There’s a history. The security relations between Iran and North Korea began during the Iran-Iraq war, and since that time, their missile and, later, nuclear cooperation has continued and expanded. In September 2012, for example, Iran and North Korea signed an agreement for technological and scientific cooperation. A few years ago, they also established the “anti-hegemonic front.” . . . [F]or Iran, [cooperation] opens a backdoor channel, conveniently beyond the bounds of inspections and scrutiny [as well as] the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) itself. So Iran can make necessary advances in North Korea while ostensibly adhering to that agreement.
It is difficult to know the precise extent of cooperation between Tehran and Pyongyang in the nuclear realm, . . . partly due to the lack of incentive on the part of the U.S. intelligence agencies to share findings that might cause difficulties for the [JCPOA].
Read more on National Interest: http://nationalinterest.org/feature/will-iran-continue-its-nuclear-program-abroad-15256