UANI Renews Call for InterContinental Hotels Group to End Iran Business, Calls for Termination of InterContinental’s Contracts with U.S. Army

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 16, 2012 Contact: Nathan Carleton, press@uani.com Phone: (212) 554-3296 UANI Renews Call for InterContinental Hotels Group to End Iran Business, Calls for Termination of InterContinental's Contracts with U.S. Army New York, NY - On Friday, United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) called for the U.S. Congress to ensure that InterContinental Hotels Groups end its business with the Iranian regime or lose its lucrative contacts with the U.S. Government, including the U.S. Army. On Tuesday, UANI called on the InterContinental to reverse its decision to host Iran's delegation during this month's meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva, Switzerland. As part of an agreement with the U.S. Army, military-run lodging facilities, including at such vital U.S. Army installations as Fort Leavenworth and Fort Hood, are being privatized and transferred to InterContinental for management and operation. In 2011 alone, InterContinental added 4,796 rooms in 25 hotels to its system as result of new operations on U.S. Army bases. In a letter sent March 15, 2012 to Senator Carl Levin and Congressman Buck McKeon, Chairmen of the Senate and House Armed Services Committee, respectively, UANI CEO Ambassador Mark D. Wallace wrote: At the same time that InterContinental is providing accommodations to members of the criminal Iranian regime, it is also benefiting from lucrative contracts with the U.S. Government to operate transient housing facilities and guest lodging for U.S. armed service members and their families...UANI believes that the U.S. Government should inform InterContinental that by doing business with the Iranian regime, it is jeopardizing its current and future opportunities with the U.S. Government. **** InterContinental has been a great beneficiary of the Privatization of Army Lodging ("PAL") program, a partnership between the U.S. Army and private industry... The benefits accrued by InterContinental under the terms of its agreements with the U.S. Army cannot be understated. For example, InterContinental added 4,796 rooms in 25 hotels to its system as result of new operations on Army bases in 2011 alone. **** Notwithstanding its involvement in the PAL project, InterContinental has also received more than $17.5 million in U.S. Government contracts since 2000. The foregoing does not reflect the full scope of federal contracts that InterContinental and its hotel brands have received. **** As members of the Armed Services Committee, you are uniquely positioned to inform the InterContinental that the provision of accommodations to the brutal regime in Tehran is unacceptable, especially in light of InterContinental's significant and ongoing business with the U.S. Government. The InterContinental should cease its business with Iran or lose its business with the United States. The InterContinental's decision to host the Iranian delegation for the HRC coincided with the release of a new UN report which found that Iran executed 670 individuals last year, including ethnic minorities, juveniles, and homosexuals. In 2009, InterContinental hosted Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at The Barclay New York during the UN General Assembly, a decision which brought The Barclay a great deal of negative publicity. Click here to read UANI's March 15 letter to the Chairmen of Armed Services Committees. Click here to read UANI's March 13 letter to the InterContinental Hotels Group Click here to send a message to the U.S. Government and Intercontinental. Click here to visit UANI's Hotels Campaign page. Click here to read report of UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Iran. ### 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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