Zimbabwe has signed a secret deal to supply Iran with the raw materials needed to develop a nuclear weapon, in breach of international sanctions, The Times reported on Saturday.
“I have seen 1/8a memorandum of understanding3/8 to export uranium to the Iranians,” Zimbabwean Deputy Mining Minister Gift Chimanikire told the British newspaper.
The agreement, which was reportedly signed last year, is likely to cause alarm in Western capitals.
The United States and the European Union have imposed crippling sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme, which Tehran insists is for peaceful energy uses but which they fear is intended to build a bomb.
Zimbabwe is also subject to international sanctions over its human rights record and conduct of elections.
President Robert Mugabe, who won another five-year term in disputed polls last month, has publicly backed Iran’s nuclear drive.