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November 20, 2025

This month’s newsletter features resources for understanding the state of
play of Iran’s nuclear program following this year’s military strikes and
U.N. sanctions snapback, as well as news about an Iranian nuclear
delegation visiting a Russian weapons institute, Chinese companies
supplying Iran with materials to rebuild its missile arsenal, and the
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)’s seizure of an oil tanker.

Also featured are an updated profile of Iran’s Organization of Defensive
Innovation and Research (SPND), the primary entity carrying out Iran’s
nuclear weapons-related research, and the company and CEO who organized
technical visits of SPND researchers to Russia. Additions to the Iran Watch
library include reports and statements from the latest International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors meeting, new U.S. sanctions
targeting Iran and its proxies, and official reactions to Iran’s seizure of
a vessel on the high seas.

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PUBLICATIONS

[4]

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi briefs the press about Iran at the
November 2025 Board of Governors meeting. (Photo Credit: Dean Calma / IAEA)

Article | [5]Nuclear Strikes on Iran: What We Don’t Know

This article analyzes the U.S. strike against Fordow and other targets in
June 2025. It identifies key uncertainties following the strikes and the
risks associated with those uncertainties.

Background Report | [6]Status of Iranian Nuclear Sites

This table provides the purpose, location, and status of Iran’s nuclear
facilities following the U.S. and Israeli strikes in June. It includes both
declared facilities relating to Iran’s full nuclear fuel cycle and
undeclared facilities suspected of being connected to its nuclear
weaponization effort.

Report | [7]Hidden Among the Rubble: Iran’s Post-Strike Weapon Potential

This report considers various scenarios to establish theoretical estimates
for how long it might take Iran to use secret uranium enrichment sites to
manufacture fuel for a small nuclear arsenal in the aftermath of the
Israeli and U.S. strikes on its declared facilities.

Podcast | [8]Iran Watch Listen: Taking Stock of Strikes and Sanctions

Valerie Lincy and John Caves sit down with John Lauder, a Wisconsin Project
Senior Fellow with more than three decades of experience in the U.S.
intelligence community, to think through the new realities after the
bombing of Iran’s nuclear program and the return of U.N. sanctions.

Timeline | [9]Iran's Nuclear Milestones

This timeline traces milestones in Iran’s nuclear progress from the
program’s origins in the 1960s to the revelations of its military
dimensions in the early 2000s, sanctions and diplomacy in the 2010s, and
the bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities in 2025.

ENTITIES OF CONCERN

Recent [10]reporting and [11]sanctions announcements have revealed that
Iran in 2024 sought technology from Russia that can be used in nuclear
weapons testing and design. These procurement efforts were led by a
military research institute and a front company acting on its behalf.

[12]Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research (SPND)

A research institute subordinate to Iran’s defense ministry; associated
with "possible military dimensions to Iran's nuclear program," according to
the IAEA; was the intended recipient of items applicable to the development
of nuclear explosive devices sought from Russia.

[13]LEARN MORE

[14]DamavandTec

A front company for the SPND; facilitated the travel of Iranian nuclear
experts to Russia to procure dual-use technologies and expertise applicable
in nuclear weapon development; reportedly sought radioactive isotopes,
including tritium, from a Russian company in 2024.

[15]LEARN MORE

[16]Ali Kalvand

CEO of DamavandTec; reportedly organized and led a delegation that traveled
to Russia in 2024 to "discuss and agree on technical and production aspects
of electronic device development".

[17]LEARN MORE

[18]Ali Bakouei

An Iranian nuclear scientist affiliated with the SPND and chairman of
DamavandTec; head of the Physics Department at [19]Tarbiat Modares
University; served as scientific representative of Iran in Russia, Belarus,
Ukraine, and Central Asia.

[20]LEARN MORE

IN THE NEWS

[21]

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi meets with Russian Foreign Minister
Sergei Lavrov in Tehran in February 2025. (Photo Credit: Iranian Ministry
of Foreign Affairs)

[22]Iranian Nuclear Experts Held Second Covert Meeting With Russian Weapons
Institute | Financial Times

November 18, 2025: Iranian nuclear experts linked to the Organization of
Defensive Innovation and Research (SPND) visited a Russian company
specializing in laser technology in November 2024, according to documents
obtained by FT. The delegation was organized and led by Ali Kalvand, the
director of SPND-linked procurement broker DamavandTec. It included four
Iranians who purported to be DamavandTec employees but were actually
researchers affiliated with universities linked to Iran's defense
establishment, including Shahid Beheshti University, Islamic Azad
University, and Malek Ashtar University of Technology. The delegation
visited the St. Petersburg-based company Laser Systems, which is licensed
to develop weapons for Russia's defense ministry. A Laser Systems
researcher subsequently visited Tehran to meet DamavandTec representatives
in February 2025. Ali Kalvand had also led another delegation of Iranian
nuclear experts to Russia earlier in 2024.

[23]Iran Confirms Seizure of Tanker With Petrochemical Cargo in Gulf |
Reuters

November 15, 2025: The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced
that it had seized a tanker "for carrying unauthorized cargo". The vessel,
the Talara, was a Marshall Islands-flagged tanker transporting gasoil from
Singapore to Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The Talara's
Cyprus-based ship management company said it lost contact with the vessel
on November 14 approximately 20 nautical miles off the coast of Khor Fakkan
in the UAE.

[24]Western Intelligence Says Iran Is Rearming Despite UN Sanctions, With
China’s Help | CNN

October 31, 2025: Between ten and twelve shipments together containing
2,000 tons of sodium perchlorate, an ingredient for solid missile
propellant, have arrived in Iran's Bandar Abbas port from China since the
reimposition of U.N. sanctions on Iran at the end of September, according
to European intelligence sources. Some cargo ships made multiple trips
between Iran and China and appear to be crewed by Islamic Republic of Iran
Shipping Lines (IRISL), including the MV Artavand, Barzin, Basht, and
Elyana. 2,000 tons of sodium chlorate is sufficient for fueling
approximately 500 missiles, according to experts. Iran previously received
shipments of sodium perchlorate from China earlier in 2025, including 1,000
tons in February and another 1,000 tons in June. A large explosion in
Bandar Abbas in April was believed to have been caused by sodium
perchlorate stored there.

FROM THE LIBRARY

The IAEA’s Board of Governors met this month to discuss the status of
Iran’s nuclear program and the future of inspections following the June
military strikes.
* The Agency’s [25]NPT safeguards report noted that the IAEA has not been
allowed by Iran to inspect sites affected by the June strikes and has lost
continuity of knowledge as to the nuclear material stored there – November
12
* IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi’s [26]statement emphasized the
importance of the Agency being granted access to Iranian sites that were
damaged in the strikes – November 19
* France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States issued a
[27]joint statement about a draft resolution to align the IAEA’s reporting
with the Security Council resolutions restored by snapback – November 19
* The [28]United States and [29]the E3 also released separate statements
urging support for the draft resolution and calling on Iran to fulfill its
safeguards obligations – November 20
* The IAEA board approved [30]the resolution instructing the Agency to
report on the implementation of Security Council resolutions restored by
snapback and urging Iran to comply with their provisions – November 20

The United States continued its maximum pressure sanctions campaign against
Iran.
* The Treasury Department [31]froze the assets of Lebanese financiers who
channeled money from Iran to Hezbollah – November 6
* The Treasury Department [32]sanctioned facilitators of Iranian imports
of missile propellant ingredients from China, as well as entities involved
in the IRGC’s procurement of drone parts and related money laundering –
November 12
* The [33]Treasury and [34]State Departments also sanctioned dozens of
entities, vessels, and aircraft involved in smuggling Iranian oil and arms
– November 20

The U.S. military’s Central Command [35]denounced Iran’s seizure of the MV
Talara as illegal and said that it had monitored the incident.

Iran Watch is a website published by the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms
Control. The Wisconsin Project is a non-profit, non-partisan organization
that conducts research, advocacy, and public education aimed at inhibiting
strategic trade from contributing to the proliferation of weapons of mass
destruction.

Copyright © 2025 - Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control

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