‘Threatening’ US letters bar Iran trade

A US-based advocacy group has been sending letters to international companies, warning them of the “costs” of doing business with Iran despite the signing of last year’s nuclear deal that would see the lifting of sanctions, a French newspaper says. 

United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), an American “secret weapon” with links to the CIA, is pressuring major businesses like Airbus, Boeing and Peugeot-Citroen to stop making further advances into the Iranian market.

The world’s two largest planemakers have struck provisional agreements worth about $50 billion at list prices to sell some 200 jets to Iran. Peugeot-Citroen has inked manufacturing deals with Iran’s two leading carmakers.

According to Le Parisien, UANI is trying to block European businesses -- “and especially French ones” – from doing business in Iran, citing accusations of terrorism and human rights violations against the Islamic Republic.

But behind UANI’s moralistic arguments, the organization just wants to guard a “slice of the pie” of the Iranian market for US businesses, the paper said, accusing the group of trying to “torpedo” business initiatives with Iran.

Le Parisien reported that during a visit by Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to Paris last spring, half a dozen major French businesses received “threatening” letters from UANI citing possible legal action.

UANI, however, has also taken aim at US corporate interests in Iran. UANI president David Ibsen has told FRANCE 24 television channel that French aviation giant “Airbus received a letter from UANI, but so did Boeing.”

The organization is linked to Jewish lobbying groups which have targeted Iran for a long time.

UANI leaders include Mike Wallace, who served as US ambassador to the United Nations under president George W. Bush, and former US senator Joe Lieberman. One of its founders is James Woolsey, who directed the CIA under Bill Clinton.

Woolsey is reportedly a member of several think tanks and lobbying organizations working to isolate Iran economically and diplomatically.

He is among a group of key American decision-makers with a long track record of enmity with Iran. They are staunchly opposed to last year's nuclear pact with the Iran, having launched a lobbying campaign against the deals.

The US Treasury Department must decide whether to license sales of Boeing and Airbus commercial aircraft to Iran but the Republican-led Congress could block the sales even if the Treasury Department approved them.

Last month, the US House of Representatives passed two amendments seeking to stop the sales, pending approval by the Senate and signing by President Barack Obama to kill the deals.

As many as 42 former top national security officials wrote a letter this week, voicing strong opposition to Airbus and Boeing deals.

US Treasury is believed to put off its decision on the sales until after the Nov. 8 presidential election in the US, where both Democratic Party candidate Hillary Clinton and Republican candidate Donald Trump are stalwart supporters of Israel.     

Iranian carriers, meanwhile, are approaching other planemakers. They have begun talks with Japan's Mitsubishi Aircraft for its regional passenger jet currently under development.

China’s single-aisle C919 airliner which rolled off the assembly line last November is another option, but neither choice is without hurdles.

While none of the companies has an aircraft for delivery in its inventory, both rely on the US and Europe for key parts in their manufacturing.

In April, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said the US has resorted to “deception” to obstruct international trade with Iran despite the nuclear agreement.

“On paper, the Americans say banks can trade with Iran but in practice they act in such an Iranophobic way that no trade can take place with Iran,” the Leader said. 

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