UANI Calls on Peugeot to End Iran Business, Calls on General Motors to End Partnership with Peugeot if Peugeot Fails to Withdraw from Iran

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 12, 2012 Contact: Nathan Carleton, press@uani.com Phone: (212) 554-3296 UANI Calls on Peugeot to End Iran Business, Calls on General Motors to End Partnership with Peugeot if Peugeot Fails to Withdraw from Iran New York, NY - On Monday, United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) called on French automaker PSA Peugeot Citroen (Peugeot) to end its ongoing business activities in Iran. Separately, UANI contacted Peugeot's new U.S. partner: General Motors (GM), concerning the impropriety of the Peugeot-GM partnership, and the possibility that it violates U.S. sanctions. Peugeot, through its longstanding partnership with the Iran Khodro Group (IKCO), is the leading foreign auto brand produced and sold in Iran. Peugeot has more expatriate employees working in Iran than any other western company. IKCO is controlled by the Iranian regime, and affiliated with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). In a March 9, 2012 letter to GM Chairman and CEO Daniel F. Ackerson, UANI President, Ambassador Mark D. Wallace, wrote: By doing business directly with the Iranian regime, Peugeot directly supports the Iranian regime's ability to develop its illegal nuclear weapons program, support its terrorist proxies and pursue a brutal campaign of repression against the Iranian people. GM's partnership with Peugeot will also likely run afoul of U.S. law. UANI therefore calls on GM to use its influence and leverage to compel Peugeot to immediately end its business in Iran. In the event Peugeot does not comply, UANI calls on GM to end its partnership with Peugeot. **** In light of the 2008-2009 taxpayer funded $50 billion bailout of GM and the U.S. Treasury Department's current 32% stake in GM, it is unacceptable for GM to enter into a partnership with a company that so openly deals with a regime that is responsible for the deaths of U.S. and NATO servicemen and threatens U.S. and global security. **** The GM and Peugeot partnership may also run afoul of U.S. sanctions. ... Since GM's alliance with Peugeot calls for GM and Peugeot to "share vehicle platforms, auto parts and create a global purchasing joint venture," GM could run afoul of Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctions under the Iranian Transactions Regulations (ITR). In a separate letter to Philippe Varin, Chairman of Peugeot's Managing Board, also sent March 9, Ambassador Wallace wrote: Through its control of IKCO, the Iranian regime and the IRGC hold an effective and lucrative monopoly on the Iranian automotive manufacturing sector. By partnering with the Iranian regime, Peugeot is supplying the technology and funds necessary for the IRGC to perpetuate this monopoly, continue its dominance over large swaths of the Iranian economy and fund its efforts to pursue weapons of mass destruction and sponsor terrorism around the globe. **** It is incumbent on all of us, private citizens, governments and corporations alike, to take concrete steps to oppose this ongoing and dangerous threat. Peugeot's direct partnership with Iranian entities controlled by the IRGC is exposing Peugeot, its investors and other partners including GM, to serious and irrevocable reputational harm. It is time for Peugeot to end its business in Iran. UANI has requested replies from Peugeot and GM by March 19, 2012. Click here to read UANI's full letter to Peugeot. Click here to read UANI's full letter to GM. Click here to send a message to Peugeot and GM. ### 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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