Following UANI's Year-Long Campaign and Recent U.S. Sanctions, Maersk Cuts Its Ties to Iranian Ports Managed by Tidewater Middle East Co.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 30, 2011 Contact: Nathan Carleton, press@uani.com Phone: (212) 554-3296 Following UANI's Year-Long Campaign and Recent U.S. Sanctions, Maersk Cuts Its Ties to Iranian Ports Managed by Tidewater Middle East Co. New York, NY - United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) President, Ambassador Mark D. Wallace, issued the following statement in response to an announcement by Maersk, the world's largest shipping container firm, that it has suspended its shipments to Iranian ports managed by the sanctioned Tidewater Middle East Co.: For a year, UANI has been calling on Maersk to cut its ties to Tidewater Middle East Co., an entity controlled by the Iranian regime's notorious Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). We are pleased that Maersk has finally decided to stop shipping to Tidewater-managed ports, and we urge them to completely end all of their business in Iran. There is little excuse for doing any business with the Iranian regime, particularly when it comes to a company like Maersk that receives more than $4 billion in contracts from the U.S. Department of Defense. Iran's regime has a long history of exploiting shipping companies in order to illegally import nuclear technology and arm terrorist groups. Companies that continue doing business in Iran are not 'victims' of Iran's deceit, they are complicit in Iran's strategy. In July 2010, UANI first highlighted Tidewater's affiliation with the IRGC and called on Maersk to end its business in Iran. Last week, the U.S. Treasury Department blacklisted Tidewater and Iran Air for their ties to the IRGC and their involvement in the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Click here to read UANI's Executive Research Report, "Iran's Exploitation of the Shipping Industry." ### 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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