UANI Statement on the Washington Post's Reporting on MTN's Business in Iran

   

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 6, 2012 Contact: Nathan Carleton, press@uani.com  Phone: (212) 554-3296 UANI Statement on the Washington Post's Reporting on MTN's Business in Iran New York, NY - United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) CEO, Ambassador Mark D. Wallace, issued the following statement Monday regarding today's Washington Post report about MTN: MTN was a charter member of UANI's Iran Business Registry, launched in 2009, and has been a continuing focus of our telecommunications campaign. Simply put, MTN has blood on its hands. MTN is the primary partner of the Iranian regime's mobile telecommunications systems, as a 49% shareholder in MTN Irancell, the rest of which is owned by the regime itself. MTN has carried out orders from the regime to shut off text messaging and Skype during times of political protest, and reportedly has a floor in its Tehran headquarters where Iranian military officials compile and access tracking data. That data has been used to track, apprehend, torture, and kill regime opponents. The United States should take immediate action to sanction MTN for its deadly partnership with the Iranian regime. We hope Mr. Plouffe will use his considerable influence to urge President Obama to sanction MTN and most importantly enact a full economic blockade on Iran, so that companies like MTN will no longer be able to operate there. Congress should immediately take steps to enact an economic embargo of the Iranian regime. Legislation imposing such an embargo should be modeled on the following UANI proposal: any business, firm, or entity that provides services to or enables or facilitates access to services in Iran and/or with any Iranian-controlled entity, shall be barred from receiving U.S. government contracts, accessing U.S. capital markets, entering into commercial partnerships with U.S. entities, or otherwise doing business in the U.S. or with U.S. entities. Click here to read UANI's February 29 letter to MTN. Click here to read UANI's January 25 letter to MTN. Click here and here to see UANI's MTN advertisements. Click here to send a message to MTN. ###                                                                        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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