Risky Business: Why Secretary Kerry's remarks miss the mark about Iran and Europe's banks

May 11, 2016

For Immediate Release
May 11. 2016
Contact: [email protected]

Risky Business: Why Secretary Kerry's remarks miss the mark about Iran and Europe's banks 
"Just because Iran is broadcasting that it is open for business does not mean it is smart or legal business," UANI warns.

New York, NY - United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) today warned that Secretary of State John Kerry's remarks on Tuesday regarding business with Iran overlooked the grave risks to banks, corporations, and the broader investment community that are keeping them away from the Islamic Republic.

"Just because Iran is broadcasting that it is open for business does not mean it is smart or legal business," said UANI Chairman Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman and CEO Ambassador Mark D. Wallace.

Led by a group of former leading diplomats and lawmakers, UANI is in the midst of raising global awareness of the corporate risks of doing business with Iran, warning hundreds of international companies that are eyeing Tehran as a new investment opportunity.

"The financial, legal, and reputational risks are grave for companies thinking about investing with the Ayatollah: the Iranian regime remains designated as a primary money-laundering concern under U.S. law; a wide array of front companies tied to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a terrorist organization sanctioned by the United States and the international community, is omnipresent in the Iranian economy; insurance coverage is uncertain and in many cases deficient; banking uncertainty abounds; hacking and cyber-insecurity lurks in the background; and there is ever-present danger of arbitrary arrest and detention to foreign businesspeople and dual-nationals," said Lieberman and Wallace.

Media interested in speaking with Ambassador Wallace or Senator Lieberman, please contact: [email protected]

About UANI
UANI is an independent, not-for-profit, non-partisan, advocacy group founded in 2008 by Ambassador Mark D. Wallace, Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, former CIA Director Jim Woolsey and Middle East Expert Ambassador Dennis Ross, that seeks to heighten awareness of the danger the Iranian regime poses to the world.