Little of this story generally appears in the media, though a current trial in Hamburg has offered a rare glimpse into the secret struggle that is waged every day without the public having any real clue of what's going on. The case is fascinating, involving as it does three men - one German and two others of Iranian origin - who are charged with exporting 92 German-produced specialized valves for use in Iran's Arak plutonium reactor and arranging the shipment of 856 nuclear-usable valves from India to Iran in 2010-11. The report, by the German scholar Matthias K ntzel, is worth quoting at length:

Amir Hekmati, a former Marine incarcerated here in August 2011 and sentenced to death on espionage charges that were overturned, was secretly retried by a revolutionary court in December, convicted of "practical collaboration with the American government" and given a 10-year prison term, his new lawyer said this week.