According to this week's Reuters story, ZTE's general counsel at its Texas-based subsidiary alleged that the parent company plotted a cover-up of the sale of Cisco gear to Iran, including possibly shredding documents. The FBI has launched a criminal probe into the allegations, the news service reports.

ZTE has continued to do business in Iran while American-made technology has been subject to U.S. sanctions. A parts list dated July 2011 for an equipment contract between ZTE and an Iranian telecommunications company included several Cisco switches, Reuters reports. ZTE later agreed to sell five Cisco switches to another Iranian firm, according to the news service.

Cisco and ZTE partnered for the past seven years. Cisco viewed ZTE as a means to combat Huawei, which had been beating out Cisco in emerging markets by offering significantly cheaper products, according to Reuters.

But ZTE wanted to expand into the U.S. and Cisco did not want that, according to the Reuters report, which quoted "a former Cisco executive with knowledge of the matter."

in Network World's LAN & WAN section.