In Case You Missed It: "Why is U.S.-Owned GM Partnering with Company that does Business with Iran?"

   

In Case You Missed It: "Why is U.S.-Owned GM Partnering with Company that does Business with Iran?" Op-Ed by UANI CEO, Ambassador Mark D. Wallace, Runs in Today's Detroit News Why is U.S.-owned GM partnering with company that does business with Iran? General Motors Co. Chairman and CEO Dan Akerson will have to answer for why a partially U.S. owned automaker owns a piece of a company that does business with Iran. By Mark D. Wallace The Detroit News June 13, 2012 Earlier this year, GM announced a new partner: French automotive giant PSA Peugeot Citroen (Peugeot). While many are still speculating about the financial implications of this trans-Atlantic alliance, there is no doubt that from a foreign policy perspective, it is problematic, and raises numerous questions that GM is unfortunately refusing to answer. My organization, United Against Nuclear Iran, learned of the GM-Peugeot partnership earlier this year, as well as GM's subsequent acquisition of a 7 percent share of Peugeot. This concerned us greatly, since Peugeot was actively doing business in Iran - a nation run by a brutal regime that is allied with al-Qaida, has killed dozens of U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, plots terrorist attacks on U.S. soil, and is illegally pursing nuclear weapons. The facts are beyond dispute: Peugeot is partnered with Iran's Khodro Group, a subsidiary of an entity - IDRO - controlled by the Iranian regime and associated with Iran's brutal Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Over half a million Peugeot vehicles were sold in Iran in 2010 alone, making Peugeot the leading foreign auto manufacturer produced and sold there. Peugeot has more expatriate employees working in Iran than any other western company. UANI respectfully raised these concerns in a March 9 letter to GM Chairman and CEO Dan Akerson, asking that GM "use its influence and leverage to compel Peugeot to immediately end its business in Iran." "In the event Peugeot does not comply," we added, "UANI calls on GM to end its partnership with Peugeot." In response to UANI, a GM spokesman, Greg Martin, told Agence France-Presse that Peugeot has "halted its business dealings with Iran." GM also told the Wall Street Journal that Peugeot had "made the decision to suspend the production and shipment of material into Iran some time ago." These would ordinarily be welcome and reassuring statements. However they simply do not jibe with reality. According to industry data, in the last year, ending March 19, nearly half a million Peugeot vehicles were produced in Iran - some 38,000 in the final month alone. On April 15, a report out of the Middle East read, "Iran's largest carmaker Iran Khodro Company branch in Fars is scheduled to produce 15 thousand Peugeot Pars sedans." Another, on April 19, said that Peugeot's Iranian partner "has not yet received any official announcement from Peugeot indicating a halt in their mutual cooperation." In fact, the very article in which Martin was quoted included a contradictory statement from a Peugeot spokesman, who said that while Peugeot had halted March and April shipments, the larger decision about ceasing business in Iran was being taken "month by month." Similarly, a report in Just-Auto last month quoted a Peugeot spokeswoman saying Peugeot had suspended Iran shipments until July, but is considering resuming them in September. We are always open to new information or explanations but, faced with the facts, it is hard not to feel like GM and Peugeot are simply trying to make this controversy go away without making the responsible decision to truly end their business in Iran. The tragedy is that Peugeot's business with Iran's regime and military has been occurring just as the U.S. and its allies are trying to economically isolate Iran and pressure it into changing course. Hundreds of companies have pulled out of Iran, either voluntarily or as a result of sanctions, including automakers Porsche and Hyundai. Both informed our organization this year that they ended their business in Iran, and we were happy to applaud them for their responsible decisions. Companies that remain in Iran, however, provide the regime with a lifeline it uses to stay in power and finance its nuclear program. In light of the taxpayer-funded $50 billion bailout of GM and the U.S. Treasury Department's current 32 percent stake in GM, it is completely unacceptable for GM to be financially aligned with a company that is doing work with a regime responsible for the deaths of U.S. servicemen. The GM-Peugeot partnership seems to run afoul of U.S. sanctions, and it should be investigated. We call on Sen. Carl Levin, D-Detroit, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, to hold GM accountable for whom it partners with. And we again call on GM and Peugeot to take the responsible action of evaluating Peugeot's business in Iran, and putting a complete and final end to it. Mark D. Wallace is CEO of United Against Nuclear Iran. He served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, representative for U.N. management and reform. Click here to read the piece on The Detroit News's website. Click here to read UANI's March 9 letter to GM. Click here to read UANI's April 10 letter to Peugeot. Click here to read UANI's March 9 letter to Peugeot. 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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