One of Britain's biggest companies has made millions of pounds selling goods to Iran, including to a state-owned firm that supplies the regime's nuclear program, U.K. daily The Guardian reported on its website Sunday.

Glencore International PLC (0805.HK, GLEN.LN, GLNCY), a commodity trading house run by the billionaire Ivan Glasenberg, traded $659 million of goods, including aluminium oxide, to Iran last year, the Guardian reported.

The company, which is one of the biggest businesses in the FTSE 100, has admitted that some of its aluminium oxide ended up in the hands of Iranian Aluminium Company, according to The Guardian.

Trafigura, another commodity trading house, has also admitted to trading an unspecified aluminium oxide (also known as alumina) with Iralco in the past, The Guardian said.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has named Iralco as supplying aluminium to Iran Centrifuge Technology Company, which is part of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, The Guardian said. Aluminium oxide is an important material in gas centrifuges used to enrich uranium, The Guardian said.

At the time of the Glencore and Trafigura trades with Iralco, it was not illegal or a breach of sanctions to supply Iran with alumina, The Guardian said. It is unknown whether Glencore or Trafigura's alumina passed from Iralco to Iran Centrifuge Technology Company, or whether it was used in centrifuge construction, The Guardian added.
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