UANI Applauds Administration for Imposing New Sanctions on Iran's Currency and Automotive Sector

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 4, 2013
Contact: Nathan Carleton, press@uani.com
Phone: (212) 554-3296

UANI Applauds Administration for Imposing New Sanctions on Iran's Currency and Automotive Sector

New York, NY -Today, United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) applauded the Obama Administration for imposing new sanctions on persons and entities that perform and facilitate transactions involving Iran's automotive industry and the Iranian rial. In a statement, UANI CEO, Ambassador Mark D. Wallace, said:

UANI has long advocated for sanctions on Iran's automotive sector and financial institutions that act to support the value of the rial. UANI launched its Auto Campaignin 2012 to call for the sanctioning of Iran's auto sector precisely because Iran's auto industry is dominated by the Iranian regime and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and serves as a substantial source of revenue as well as a means to access technologies and products that are misused by the regime's military and security forces.

We hope that this action is a step towards an economic blockade of the Iranian regime. The international community must continue to work to stymie efforts by financial institutions to assist the regime in ameliorating the impact of sanctions on its economy, as measured in the declining value of its currency. 

President Obama should now take additional steps to bar auto manufacturers working in Iran from entering into partnerships with U.S. entities or engaging in any commercial activities in the U.S.  

Now is the time for the U.S. to put maximum pressure on the regime. We reiterate our call for an economic blockade of the Iranian regime, with the only exception being a humanitarian one. Any business, firm, or entity that does work in Iran should 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.

UANI has targeted the Iranian rial as a means of pressuring the Iranian economy. Last year, after launching its Rial Currency Printing Campaign, UANI announced that KBA, the world's second-largest security bank note printing press manufacturer, ended its currency printing business in Iran, a development reported by The New York Times. All three companies contacted by UANI as part of the campaign confirmed an end to their currency printing business in Iran.

UANI launched its Auto Campaign in March 2012. Since then, UANI has announced the withdrawals ofthe Volvo Group, Hyundai, Fiat, Maserati, Lamborghini, Porsche, and Kia. Last year, Ambassador Wallace testified about Iran's automotive industry before the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Click here to view UANI Model Legislation: The Economic Blockade of Iran Act.
Click here to view UANI's Auto Campaign.
Click here to view UANI's Rial Currency Printing Campaign.

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