UANI Calls on Sweden’s Pomegranate Investment and Verisec to Reconsider Risky Iran Business Plans after High-Level Iranian Delegation Visits Stockholm

June 2, 2016

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 2, 2016
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UANI Calls on Sweden's Pomegranate Investment and Verisec to Reconsider Risky Iran Business Plans after High-Level Iranian Delegation Visits Stockholm

Iranian Foreign Minister claims Iran is safe for business; leading experts warn Iran is a risky investment

New York, NY - As Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif visited Sweden during his European diplomatic tour, a group of leading diplomats and lawmakers pushed back against his claim yesterday that Swedish companies "will not find a safer place than Iran" to do business, reiterating the dangers of Iran's risk-ridden investment landscape. United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), the nonpartisan, not-for-profit advocacy organization known for its efforts to heighten awareness of the ongoing dangers the Iranian regime poses to the world, is specifically calling on Sweden-based Pomegranate Investment AB and Verisec AB to reconsider their reported decisions to enter the Iranian market.

"The Iranian regime may claim that it is a safe place to do business, but the fact remains that there are serious financial, legal, and reputational ramifications for companies considering investing in Iran, which remains the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism and is still designated as a jurisdiction of primary money laundering concern under the USA PATRIOT Act," said UANI Chairman Senator Joseph I. Lieberman.

UANI is in the midst of a global education and awareness campaign focused on the corporate risks of doing business with Iran. International IT security company Verisec has reportedly entered into business agreements with Bank Saderat Dubai, which is a subsidiary of the U.S. and EU sanction-designated Bank Saderat Iran and has ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Pomegranate Investment is reportedly considering investment in Tehran's technology sector, in which the IRGC maintains a foothold and regime authorities strictly monitor and censor. The investment firm's leadership has already observed the severe due diligence and legal risks that are involved with entering the Iranian market.

"Businesses will be hard-pressed to find a company that doesn't have ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a terrorist organization sanctioned by the United States and the international community," said UANI CEO Ambassador Mark D. Wallace. "We urge Verisec, Pomegranate Investment, and other Swedish companies to think twice before entering the Iran market."

As part of its campaign to highlight the dangers of business with the Iranian regime, UANI has identified a matrix of 10 key risk categories businesses and sovereign states face should they pursue deals with Tehran. In addition to the Verisec and Pomegranate Investment, UANI recently raised concerns with Sweden's Volvo Group.

Click here to read UANI's letter to Pomegranate Investment AB.
Click here to read UANI's letter to Verisec AB.

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

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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.