The U.S. State Department on 16 May named one Armenian company and one businessman subjected to sanctions for allegedly supplying to Iran equipment or technology that could be used in the manufacture of weapons of mass destruction, RFE/RL\'s Yerevan bureau reported. They are apparently the Lizin chemical plant in Charentsavan, north of Yerevan, and its owner, Armen Sargsian, the younger brother of murdered Prime Minister Vazgen Sargsian. Lizin has for years manufactured an eponymous beet-based biochemical substance used as an additive to animal fodder, but which can also be used to produce proteins that increase resistance to nuclear radiation. Lizin did not feature in the list of Armenian exports to Iran last year. But a former government official told RFE/RL that the company\'s \"unique\" equipment was dismantled and sold to Iran last year, and that this could not have been done without the government\'s knowledge. (RFE/RL)