UANI Applauds Evergreen, Yang Ming, CSCL for Ending Iran Operations

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 2, 2013  Contact: Nathan Carleton, press@uani.com  Phone: (212) 554-3296   UANI Applauds Evergreen, Yang Ming, CSCL for Ending Iran Operations New York, NY - Today, United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) announced that following its Ports Authority Campaign, shippers Evergreen, Yang Ming, and China Shipping Container Lines Co. (CSCL) have ended their Iran operations.  In a March 15, 2013 Wall Street Journal Op-Ed, "Closing U.S. Ports to Iran-Tainted Shipping," UANI CEO, Ambassador Mark D. Wallace, highlighted international shipping firms such as Taiwan's Evergreen and Yang Ming that were accessing both Iranian and U.S. ports. Wrote Ambassador Wallace: "At Bandar Abbas, Iran's largest port, ships bearing the distinctive 'Evergreen' insignia dock and unload their cargo. On the other side of the world, Evergreen vessels make their scheduled calls at Los Angeles Harbor ..." UANI also in March unveiled an interactive Ports Authority Database, for individuals to see which U.S. and Canadian ports were providing services to shipping companies active in Iran. Since the campaign's launch, UANI has consulted with Evergreen, Yang Ming, and CSCL regarding their withdrawals from Iran. In correspondence with UANI, Yang Ming stated that "in March this year Yang Ming took a decision to restructure its service offerings in the Middle East and pursuant to this has terminated the service to Iran." CSCL stated to UANI that "we have decided to cease all Iran service (including cargo import/export to/from Iran) after July 1, 2013." In discussions with Iran, Evergreen also committed to end its port calls to Iran. Said Ambassador Wallace: We applaud Evergreen, Yang Ming, and CSCL for ending their Iran business. The Iranian regime has long relied on ocean transportation for the import of raw materials required for the nuclear program, and these decisions will hamper those efforts. The success of this campaign shows once again the power of the American pocketbook in forcing companies out of Iran. All businesses operating in Iran should be presented with a clear choice: stop doing business in Iran, or stop doing business with the U.S. UANI has frequently highlighted the shipping industry as an area where the international community can further pressure Iran. In a 2012 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, the Korean Register of Shipping, the China Classification Society, and ClassNK. UANI has also announced that Barbados, Hong Kong, Moldova and Mongolia have stopped their reflagging of Iranian vessels. Click here to read Ambassador Wallace's Op-Ed, "Closing U.S. Ports to Iran-Tainted Shipping." Click here to use UANI's interactive Ports Authority Database. 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.