Iran allegedly tried to buy highly specialized magnets from China to be used in centrifuges for enriching Uranium, according to a new report from an international nuclear watchdog group.  Iran is banned from importing these magnets under the United Nations sanctions established in late 2011.

The report from the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) alleges Iran used a front company to try and find a Chinese supplier for 100,000 ring-shaped magnets.  But they don’t know if Iran actually found a partner in this venture. 

Western critics say Iran is trying to put all of this together in a nuclear weapons program, Tehran denies the charge.  But the report’s author US Scientist David Albright says it all points to Iran trying to take great leaps in its nuclear capabilities.   And it raises concerns about how successful Iran has been in these efforts. 

Iran is sure to be at the top of US President Barack Obama’s agenda when he visits Israel next month.

Albright and ISIS are not in the business of raising unnecessary alarms, having strongly pushed back against Bush administration claims of Iraq’s alleged nuclear capabilities in 2002 in the lead up to the Iraq War.  The Bush administration claimed that the tubes were evidence that Iraq planned to use them in the construction of a nuclear device.  Albright said it was far from clear that the tubes were intended for a nuclear centrifuge.  No weapons of mass destruction or evidence of a nuclear weapons program were ever found in Iraq.