Iranian scientists and nuclear experts conducted a second secret visit to Russia last year to seek sensitive laser technologies with potential nuclear weapons applications, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday, citing documents, correspondence, and travel records.
The meetings allegedly linked Russian military research institutes and Iran’s Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research (SPND), which the United States accuses of leading Tehran’s past nuclear weapons work.
According to the report, Damavand-Tech, identified as a SPND front company, organized a November 2024 trip for an Iranian laser expert delegation from Tehran to St. Petersburg.
The scientists traveled on consecutively numbered diplomatic passports issued for the purpose by Iran’s Foreign Ministry, the FT said.
The delegation visited a facility of Laser Systems, a Russian firm under US sanctions that develops dual-use technologies for civilian and classified military purposes, the report said.
Academic and institutional records indicate the travelers were not Damavand-Tech employees, but physicists and engineers from Iranian universities and defense-linked research centers, including Shahid Beheshti University and Malek Ashtar University of Technology, a Defense Ministry-run institution under sanctions.
The FT cited Jim Lamson, a senior fellow at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies and a former CIA analyst, as saying the Iranian team appeared to be “seeking laser technology and expertise that could help them validate a nuclear weapon design without conducting an explosive test.”
State Department sanctions on Damavand-Tech, and its CEO
In October 2025, the US State Department sanctioned Damavand-Tech and its CEO, Ali Kalavand, for acting on behalf of SPND to procure “items applicable to the development of nuclear explosive devices” from foreign suppliers, according to the FT.
The paper also reported previous efforts by the company to obtain small quantities of sensitive radioisotopes, including tritium, which can be used to boost the yield of nuclear warheads.
The contacts reportedly ran both ways. Andrei Sabin, a Laser Systems researcher and professor at the Baltic State Technical University, visited Tehran in February 2025, meeting Damavand-Tech representatives and figures suspected of ties to SPND, a briefed source told the FT.
Nicole Grajewski, a nuclear policy fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, called the meetings “strong evidence that Russia has assisted Iran with weapons-related research,” adding that the activity appeared to be state-approved at a high level in both countries, according to the report.
The revelations come amid heightened tensions over Iran’s nuclear program. In June 2025, the United States carried out strikes against Iranian nuclear targets, dealing significant damage, according to US assessments.
The Pentagon later said the strikes degraded Iran’s program by up to two years, while Western diplomats cautioned that Tehran retained critical infrastructure and enriched uranium stockpiles.
In late September 2025, Britain, France, and Germany triggered the UN “snapback” mechanism, leading to the reinstatement of global sanctions on Iran. Israel welcomed the move as vital to curbing Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, while Iranian officials warned of retaliatory steps.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei later mocked former US president Donald Trump’s claim that the summer strikes had “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear industry, saying, “keep dreaming,” underscoring the dispute over how far the attacks set back Tehran’s capabilities.