Konecranes Ends Business in Iran, Becomes Fifth Crane Manufacturer to Pull Out Following UANI Cranes Campaign

August 31, 2011

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 31, 2011
Contact: Nathan Carleton, [email protected]
Phone: (212) 554-3296   

 

Konecranes Ends Business in Iran, Becomes Fifth Crane Manufacturer to Pull Out Following UANI Cranes Campaign

 

New York, NY - United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) on Wednesday applauded Finnish crane manufacturer Konecranes for ending its business in Iran. Konecranes is the fifth international crane manufacturer to pull out of Iran in response to UANI's Cranes Campaign.

 

On August 18, UANI publicly called on Konecranes to end its Iran business. In response, Konecranes informed UANI that it had made the decision to "withdraw from the Iranian market" and is now "systematically refus[ing] all opportunities to sell new equipment and services to the country."

 

At UANI's urging, Konecranes also informed UANI: "we have from our website removed all references to Iranian companies with which we have previously had business ties, including Sepahan Lifter and Fassan Co. All references to Konecranes will be removed from Iranian local dealers' websites."

 

UANI applauded Konecranes for ending its business in Iran. Said UANI President, Ambassador Mark D. Wallace:

 

UANI applauds Konecranes for ending its business in Iran. Konecranes shares UANI's objections to Iran's brutal execution binge, and by pulling out of Iran, it sends a powerful message. Konecranes and other corporations are showing the Iranian regime that its economy will continue to suffer unless Iran renounces its pursuit of nuclear weapons, ceases its egregious human rights violations, and ends its sponsorship of terror.

 

UANI's "Cranes Campaign" highlights the Iranian regime's abhorrent record of public executions by hanging citizens from cranes. On July 6, Ambassador Wallace, in a Los Angeles Times op-ed, "Iran's Execution Binge," detailed the Iranian regime's use of foreign construction cranes for public hangings and called on crane manufacturers to "take the principled stand of renouncing their business ties with the regime until Iran becomes a civilized member of the international community."

 

Konecranes joins crane manufacturers Tadano, Terex, UNIC, and Liebherr in announcing an end to its business in Iran following the Cranes Campaign.

 

Click here to learn more about UANI's Cranes Campaign.

 

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