Iran is an investor in the German conglomerate that designs and build submarines for the Israeli military. And Tehran has profited handsomely from that investment.

It was revealed last week that the government-owned Iran Foreign Investment Company (IFIC) holds nearly five percent in ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS), which also provides Israel’s navy with the Sa’ar 6-class corvette warship.

But the submarines are the big deal. Submarines are one of the IDF’s most classified projects, and are seen by many as Israel’s best first- and second-strike options against a nuclear-armed Iran.

Considering the submarines’ primarily presumed mission, one would think Iran would want to prevent Israel from attaining such weapons.

At the same time, Iran is in dire financial straights, and its investment in ThyssenKrupp netted the Islamic Republic a cool 2 billion euros over the past decade.