UANI Calls on UK's NAVALMAR to Cease Port Calls in Iran

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 4, 2013 Contact: Nathan Carleton, press@uani.com  Phone: (212) 554-3296 UANI Calls on UK's NAVALMAR to Cease Port Calls in Iran   New York, NY - On Monday, United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) called on shipping firm NAVALMAR UK LTD (NAVALMAR) to immediately stop making port calls in Iran.  UANI is specifically raising its concerns with the activities of NAVALMAR's vessel, the BSLE VENUS, which UANI believes is visiting Iranian ports and interacting with port authorities closely affiliated with Tidewater Middle East Co., a U.S. and EU sanctioned entity. In a letter sent to NAVALMAR General Director Roy Terence Ware, UANI CEO, Ambassador Mark D. Wallace, wrote: ... I am again writing on behalf of United Against Nuclear Iran ("UANI") to express our concerns about the apparent calling of NAVALMAR UK LTD's (NAVALMAR) vessel BSLE VENUS at Iranian ports operated by entities sanctioned under recent European and U.S. legislation. Specifically, we would like to express our concerns about the apparently ongoing interaction between your vessel BSLE VENUS and port authorities closely affiliated with Tidewater Middle East Co., a U.S. and EU sanctioned Iranian entity. The general cargo vessel BSLE VENUS, of which NAVALMAR is the registered owner, appears to have visited ports reportedly operated by Tidewater Middle East Co. Tidewater Middle East Co was sanctioned by the EU and U.S. due to its connection to the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps ("IRGC"). The IRGC itself is sanctioned by the EU and is designated as an entity of proliferation concern by the U.S. Thus by continuing its interaction with this Iranian port management authority, NAVALMAR could be in danger of inadvertently violating EU sanctions. Any payments to Tidewater Middle East Co are prohibited under the aforementioned sanctions. UANI encourages NAVALMAR to consider abandoning its alleged interaction with sanctioned Iranian entities in order to avoid any further reputational damage derived from its ostensible commercial activities there. ... UANI has highlighted the shipping industry as an area where the international community can further pressure Iran. In a 2012 Wall Street Journal Op-Ed, six UANI board members wrote that "the world must deny Iran's access to international shipping, a move that would severely affect the regime given its dependence on global trade and seaborne crude oil exports." Last year, all thirteen of the world's major classification societies stopped certifying Iranian vessels following UANI's campaign, including Bureau Veritas, Germanischer Lloyd, the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping, Korean Register of Shipping, China Classification Society, and ClassNK. UANI has also announced that Barbados, Hong Kong, Moldova and Mongolia have stopped their reflagging of Iranian vessels. UANI has requested a reply from NAVALMAR by March 11, 2013. Click here to read UANI's full letter to NAVALMAR. Click here to learn more about UANI's Shipping Campaign. ### 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.

Forward email American Coalition Against Nuclear Iran | 45 Rockefeller Plaza | New York | NY | 10111

-->