Konecranes Ends Business in Iran, Becomes Fifth Crane Manufacturer to Pull Out Following UANI Cranes Campaign

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 31, 2011 Contact: Nathan Carleton, press@uani.com Phone: (212) 554-3296 Konecranes Ends Business in Iran, Becomes Fifth Crane Manufacturer to Pull Out Following UANI Cranes Campaign New York, NY - United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) on Wednesday applauded Finnish crane manufacturer Konecranes for ending its business in Iran. Konecranes is the fifth international crane manufacturer to pull out of Iran in response to UANI's Cranes Campaign. On August 18, UANI publicly called on Konecranes to end its Iran business. In response, Konecranes informed UANI that it had made the decision to "withdraw from the Iranian market" and is now "systematically refus[ing] all opportunities to sell new equipment and services to the country." At UANI's urging, Konecranes also informed UANI: "we have from our website removed all references to Iranian companies with which we have previously had business ties, including Sepahan Lifter and Fassan Co. All references to Konecranes will be removed from Iranian local dealers' websites." UANI applauded Konecranes for ending its business in Iran. Said UANI President, Ambassador Mark D. Wallace: UANI applauds Konecranes for ending its business in Iran. Konecranes shares UANI's objections to Iran's brutal execution binge, and by pulling out of Iran, it sends a powerful message. Konecranes and other corporations are showing the Iranian regime that its economy will continue to suffer unless Iran renounces its pursuit of nuclear weapons, ceases its egregious human rights violations, and ends its sponsorship of terror. UANI's "Cranes Campaign" highlights the Iranian regime's abhorrent record of public executions by hanging citizens from cranes. On July 6, Ambassador Wallace, in a Los Angeles Times op-ed, "Iran's Execution Binge," detailed the Iranian regime's use of foreign construction cranes for public hangings and called on crane manufacturers to "take the principled stand of renouncing their business ties with the regime until Iran becomes a civilized member of the international community." Konecranes joins crane manufacturers Tadano, Terex, UNIC, and Liebherr in announcing an end to its business in Iran following the Cranes Campaign. Click here to learn more about UANI's Cranes Campaign. ###

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.