UANI Condemns Warwick for Agreeing to Accommodate Ahmadinejad in Manhattan Next Week

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 15, 2011 Contact: Nathan Carleton, press@uani.com Phone: (212) 554-3296 UANI Condemns Warwick for Agreeing to Accommodate Ahmadinejad in Manhattan Next Week New York, NY - On Thursday, United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) demanded that the Warwick New York Hotel immediately reconsider its decision to host Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his cohorts during their stay in New York for the United Nations General Assembly next week. UANI has learned that the Warwick is planning to host Ahmadinejad, and today UANI President, Ambassador Mark D. Wallace, wrote a letter to Warwick executives calling on them to change their decision. Wrote Ambassador Wallace: [UANI] has learned that the [Warwick] will host Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his cohorts during their stay in New York for the United Nations General Assembly beginning Monday September 19, 2011. By this letter, UANI requests that the Warwick immediately reconsider its decision and deny accommodation for and refuse to host President Ahmadinejad. *** ... UANI would like to ask the Warwick a simple question ... do you honestly think it is appropriate to provide accommodations to the leader of such a detestable regime, specifically in the very city where the worst of 9/11 occurred? By choosing to host the Iranian delegation, the Warwick is accepting blood money from a regime that presents an overwhelming threat to global security. By turning a blind eye to the regime's flagrant violations of human rights, support for al-Qaeda and its commitment to an illegal nuclear weapons program, the Warwick is once again facilitating Ahmadinejad's misuse of UNGA for the purposes of disseminating propaganda of an illegitimate and brutal dictatorship that flouts international law. Should the Warwick continue with its plans to serve as a host to President Ahmadinejad, UANI will take action against all Warwick properties worldwide. UANI will call on its partners and activists to peacefully protest your properties, and will call for a general public boycott of all Warwick properties. As you recall, during last year's UNGA, UANI launched a campaign against the Hilton hotel chain for hosting Ahmadinejad and the Hilton paid for its decision with negative publicity, protests outside of the Hilton Manhattan East and lost business (ABC News. "Guarding Iran's President Ahmadinejad, the Most Hated Man in New York" September 23, 2010). UANI hopes that the Warwick will not repeat this mistake. Now more than ever, it is important to stand with UANI, the United States and much of the international community in condemning the behavior of Iran's government. Click here to read UANI's letter to Warwick executives. Click here to learn more about UANI's Hotels Campaign. Click here to read Ambassador Wallace's August 16 Daily Beast Op-Ed calling on Manhattan hotels to deny accommodations to Ahmadinejad. ###

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.