Iran’s state-owned Defense Industries Organization (DIO) is one of the main subsidiaries of Iran’s Ministry of Defense. Its primary responsibility is meeting the requirements of the armed forces of Iran, but it also exports products and engineering services. Through its subsidiaries and contractors, it has played an important role in Iran’s development of its centrifuge manufacturing capabilities. According to IAEA reports, substantial numbers of IR-1 centrifuge components were manufactured at DIO workshops under contract with the AEOI. Three such workshops controlled by DIO are Khorasan Metallurgy Industries, 7th of Tir, and Kaveh Cutting Tools, all of which are named in UN Security Council Resolution 1737, Annex A.
In April 2004, during a scheduled visit, the IAEA requested access to these sites and was refused. The IAEA was granted access in late May 2004.1 According to the June 2004 IAEA report, DIO workshops were involved in the procurement of parts from abroad for the IR-2 (then referred to as the P2) centrifuge. Initially Iran denied to the IAEA that any components had been procured from abroad. By 2004, Iran acknowledged that, contrary to these earlier statements, it had imported some magnets relevant to P2 centrifuges from Asian suppliers, and that the composite rotors that had been manufactured in Iran had in fact been fabricated in another workshop situated on a DIO site.
The U.S. Department of State designated DIO on March 30, 2007 as an entity engaged in activities that have materially contributed to the development of Iran’s nuclear and missile programs.
DIO’s main activities involve producing defense equipment like battle tanks and other vehicles, weapons and weapons systems, as well as chemical and mechanical materials.2
U.N Security Council Resolution 1929 identifies several other workshops as subsidiaries of the DIO. Entities controlled by DIO include Parchin Chemical Industries, Amin Industrial Group, Kaveh Cutting tools, Shahd Sayvade Shirazi Industries, and Yazd Metallurgy Industries.3
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