Statement by UANI on French Shipping Company CMA CGM Ending Exports from Iran

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 30, 2011 Contact: Nathan Carleton, press@uani.com Phone: (212) 554-3296 Statement by UANI on French Shipping Company CMA CGM Ending Exports from Iran New York, NY - United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) President, Ambassador Mark D. Wallace, issued the following the statement regarding French shipping company CMA CGM's Wednesday announcement that it has ended its exports from Iran. UANI has been pressuring CMA CGM throughout the year, with a public campaign, billboard, Op-Ed, and research report. For a year now, UANI has been calling on CMA CGM to end its business in Iran, given the regime's documented history of using shipping companies to illegally import nuclear technology and export arms to terrorist groups. On multiple occasions, CMA CGM vessels have been seized and found to contain such shipments. We are pleased that CMA CGM has finally stopped exports from Iran and increased its screening processes, but given CMA CGM's checkered and dubious history of work in Iran it must go further and end all of its business there. By continuing to do work in Iran, CMA CGM is providing the regime with an economic lifeline, and risks violating international sanctions law. CMA CGM must fully pull out of Iran, and also cut its ties to Tidewater Middle East Co., an entity controlled by the Iranian regime's notorious Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). There is no excuse for doing any business with the Iranian regime, and companies that continue to are not 'victims' of Iran's deceit, but complicit in Iran's activities. Since March 2011, UANI has been calling on CMA CGM to end its business in Iran, where the regime has used shipping companies to transfer weapons and nuclear technology to and from Iran. At least three CMA CGM vessels have been seized and found to contain weapons headed to or from Iran. In June, Ambassador Wallace and UANI board member Frances Townsend called on CMA CGM to end its business in Iran in a Washington Times Op-Ed. UANI also placed a billboard outside of CMA CGM's Norfolk, VA headquarters, reading "CMA CGM transports Iranian weapons bound for terrorist organizations. It's time to choose ... US OR THEM! TAKE ACTION AT UANI.COM." Click here to send a message to CMA CGM. Click here to view UANI's CMA CGM billboard in Norfolk, VA. Click here to read UANI's Washington Times Op-Ed, "Virginia is for Lovers of contraband." 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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