UANI Calls on French Shipping Giant CMA CGM to End Its Business in Iran

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 10, 2011 Contact: press@uani.com Phone: (212) 554-3296 UANI Calls on French Shipping Giant CMA CGM to End Its Business in Iran New York, NY - United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) on Wednesday called on the CMA CGM Group ("CMA CGM") to follow the lead of other responsible corporations and cease all business activities in or with Iran. CMA CGM, a privately owned French company and the third largest shipping container company worldwide, is listed on UANI's Iran Business Registry (IBR). While the world is increasingly taking steps to isolate Iran for its pursuit of an illegal nuclear weapons program, CMA CGM is instead increasing its business in Iran, stating that it would increase activities in the port of Bushehr, where Iran's light water nuclear reactor is located, "10 times more than present." Since 2009, CMA CGM vessels have also been involved in two known incidents of shipping dangerous weaponry to or from Iran in violation of UN Security Council Resolutions. Most recently, in October 2010, Nigerian authorities seized 13 shipping containers carrying illegal Iranian weaponry at Lagos' Apapa Port. In the second case, in July 2009 the UAE seized a shipment of weapons from North Korea destined for Iran. This case is particularly troubling, because according to a diplomatic source, the shipment reportedly contained components that would be used for an Iranian test launch of a new, North Korean-supplied intermediate-range ballistic missile. The missile, reportedly the BM-25 (or Musudan), is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead and reaching targets in Western Europe. CMA CGM's business in Iran is clearly helping to prop up the Iranian regime's dictatorship. In a letter to Jacques R. Saadé, the Group Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the CMA CGM Group, and Frank J. Baragona, President of CMA CGM (America) LLC, UANI President, Ambassador Mark D. Wallace wrote: CMA CGM's office in the United States is clearly subject to the jurisdiction of U.S. law enforcement authorities and the subpoena power of the U.S. Congress. UANI calls on the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia to investigate CMA CGM and, particularly, its role in Iran business and the startling reports that CMA CGM was responsible for shipping ballistic missile parts from North Korea to Iran including BM-25 missile components. It is simply untenable for a company to be located within ten miles from the U.S Department of Justice in Norfolk, VA and to be able to ship ballistic missile parts by and between North Korea and Iran without fear of criminal investigation and potential sanction. CMA CGM's office in the U.S. should be obligated to provide: 1. Detailed information of all cargo shipments by and between Iran and North Korea; 2. Detailed manifest information on the shipments seized by the Nigerian and UAE authorities described above; 3. Any and all information related to arms, munitions and/or missile technology shipped by CMA CGM to or from an Iranian port over the last seven (7) years; 4. Any and all agreements with IRGC controlled and/or affiliated entities, and; 5. All documents regarding the nature and extent of CMA CGM's business in Iran. UANI also urges the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs and the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, in their consideration of additional Iranian sanctions, to subpoena CMA CGM to testify on the above described matters. Click here to send a message to CMA CGM. Click here to read the letter to CMA CGM. Click here to learn more about the Iran Disclosure Project. # # # United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) is a program of the American Coalition Against Nuclear Iran, Inc., a tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. The prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran should concern every American and be unacceptable to the community of nations. Since 1979 the Iranian regime, most recently under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's leadership, has demonstrated increasingly threatening behavior and rhetoric toward the US and the West. Iran continues to defy the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the United Nations in their attempts to monitor its nuclear activities. A number of Arab states have warned that Iran's development of nuclear weapons poses a threat to Middle East stability and could provoke a regional nuclear arms race. In short, the prospect of a nuclear armed Iran is a danger to world peace. United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) is a non-partisan, broad-based coalition that is united in a commitment to prevent Iran from fulfilling its ambition to become a regional super-power possessing nuclear weapons. UANI is an issue-based coalition in which each coalition member will have its own interests as well as the collective goal of advancing an Iran free of nuclear weapons. The Objectives of United Against a Nuclear Iran Inform the public about the nature of the Iranian regime, including its desire and intent to possess nuclear weapons, as well as Iran's role as a state sponsor of global terrorism, and a major violator of human rights at home and abroad; Heighten awareness nationally and internationally about the danger that a nuclear armed Iran poses to the region and the world; Mobilize public support, utilize media outreach, and persuade our elected leaders to voice a robust and united American opposition to a nuclear Iran; Lay the groundwork for effective US policies in coordination with European and other allies; Persuade the regime in Tehran to desist from its quest for nuclear weapons, while striving not to punish the Iranian people, and; Promote efforts that focus on vigorous national and international, social, economic, political and diplomatic measures. UANI is led by an advisory board of outstanding national figures representing all sectors of our country.

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