In Case You Missed It: UANI Featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times

In Case You Missed It: UANI Featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times

UK Bank Standard Chartered Exits Iran Amid International Pressure

By Benoit Faucon
The Wall Street Journal
May 9, 2012

Standard Chartered PLC has pulled out of Iran after decades of having a presence, the latest bank to exit the lucrative market amid mounting international pressure. ...

Kristen Silverberg, the newly appointed president of New York-based pressure group United Against Nuclear Iran, welcomed Standard Chartered's decision to end its business in Iran.

"We call on other banks around the world to follow Standard Chartered by pulling out of Iran, and completely cut off the regime's access to international markets," said Ms Silverberg, a former U.S. ambassador to the European Union. ...

Click here to read the full article.

European Countries Seek Easing of Provision Included in Iranian Oil Embargo

By Rick Gladstone
The New York Times
May 10, 2012

Britain said Thursday that it was in talks with other European Union members about possibly easing a provision of their Iran oil embargo, set to begin in less than two months, that could cause harmful and unintended side effects because it bans Europe-based insurers from covering any ships that carry Iranian oil anywhere in the world.

Such an easing would most likely be welcomed by Iran as well as non-European buyers of Iranian oil, and it could reduce a potential cause of spiking oil prices. But advocates of aggressive sanctions against Iran argue that it could also subvert the underlying purpose of pressuring Iran, a major exporter of oil. ...

Most big maritime insurers and underwriters are based in Europe, and other buyers of Iranian oil are finding it increasingly difficult to buy the required liability insurance needed to ship it as the embargo's July 1 enforcement date looms. ...

Proponents of the sanctions, reacting to a possible delay in the insurance ban, were angry. "Iran's economy is feeling the impact of international sanctions, and it is now time to not only keep that pressure on, but increase it," Mark D. Wallace, the chief executive of United Against Nuclear Iran, a New York-based advocacy group, said in a statement. "The regime will not change course due to half measures." ...

Click here to read the full article.

###