UANI

"The Persian Gulf country will buy two Ukrainian-made Antonov-158s, after a test flight of the aircraft earlier this month, Mohammad-Ali Sirati, managing director of the Iranian aircraft company, was cited as saying by the official Islamic Republic News Agency. The countries then will start to jointly build the aircraft next year, Sirati, whose company will be in charge of the project, said in Tehran yesterday. Some 30 percent of each plane will be made in Iran, state-run media reported." (Business Week, "Iran Says Antonov-158 Built With Ukraine May Fly in 2013," 10/6/2011)

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Antonov lists on its website that their AN-24 turboprop aircraft is serially produced at HESA plant in Isfahan, Iran. (Antonov website)

"This license was so heavily redacted by OFAC at the request of JPMorgan Chase that it is impossible to say exactly what was authorized other than the fact that it involved a letter of credit that somehow ran afoul of the sanctions against Iran." (New York Times, "Licenses Granted to U.S. Companies Run the Gamut," 12/24/10)

Over the last three presidential administrations, the United States government has granted Citigroup 37 special licenses to do business in Iran. (New York Times, "Companies with Permission to Bypass Sanctions," 12/24/10)

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"OFAC granted a license on Dec. 27, 2007, to Citibank authorizing it to make good on an agreement its Japanese subsidiary had entered into in October. The bank had agreed to confirm that certain conditions in a letter of credit had been meet, after which a Malaysian exporter of split-system air conditioners to Turkey would be paid. Then the bank discovered that the goods were to be shipped aboard a vessel called the Iran Ilam that was owned by the Iranian government-run shipping line known as Irisl, thus requiring that the transaction be licensed. The license was issued even though the Treasury Department and OFAC suspected that Irisl was being used to smuggle goods into Iran in contravention of various embargoes, including banned technology the government needed for its ballistic missile and nuclear programs. Moreover, at the time the license was issued, the United States had evidence that five months earlier, the Iran Ilam itself had delivered a lathe that could be used to make precise metal parts needed for nuclear centrifuges from China to Iran’s Shahid Bagheri Industrial Group, according to government officials who requested anonymity to speak about an intelligence matter. Indeed, within months of issuing the license, OFAC announced at a news conference that the United States was adding Irisl to a special blacklist, after an investigation found that Irisl had falsified cargo records, relied on front companies and used other trickery to mask the true nature and destination of shipments. At the September 2008 news conference announcing the decision, OFAC's director, Adam J. Szubin, warned that banks and companies worldwide should be aware that they could be unwittingly aiding Iran’s quest for banned technology by doing business with Irisl: 'Irisl’s deceptive practices make it nearly impossible to determine whether its shipments are licit or illicit,' he said. Mr. Szubin acknowledged in an interview that he was under no obligation to issue the license to Citigroup, given that banks were already prohibited generally from doing business with Iranian entities. But he said that OFAC had issued licenses in cases like this in the past in which the bank had no way of knowing that Irisl was involved and Irisl would have been paid by a foreign third party anyway. To depart from that norm in this case, he added, risked opening up his agency charges of unfair treatment and litigation, and tipping off Irisl that it was under investigation."

"This license is one of at least three that OFAC issued involving the China Great Wall Industry Corporation. The licenses were issued after the Chinese company was added to the United States' special blacklist for supplying components to Iran's ballistic missile development program and before it was removed from the list on June 19, 2008. In one case, the agency licensed the Chinese company's lawyers, who were challenging the blacklisting, to receive legal fees. Two other cases involved wire transactions to or from China Great Wall. OFAC could have forced Citigroup to seize the funds, but said it chose instead to authorize the bank to return the money because China was unlikely to agree that the funds should be seized and therefore the bank would have almost certainly lost a legal battle to keep the funds blocked." (New York Times, "Licenses Granted to U.S. Companies Run the Gamut," 12/24/10)

Over the last three presidential administrations, the United States government has granted Bank of America 19 special licenses to do business in Iran. (New York Times, "Companies with Permission to Bypass Sanctions," 12/24/10)

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"OFAC redacted so much of this license file that it is impossible to tell what exactly it authorized, though what is clear is that it was related to another license, granted to BNP Paribas, involving the acquisition of equipment that was of Iranian origin. Bank of America, which was financing the deal, contended that the sale should be licensed because the goods had already been exported to another country." (New York Times, "Licenses Granted to U.S. Companies Run the Gamut," 12/24/10)

Blackstone Group LP is one of the world's largest financial service companies, specializing in private equity. It owns Hilton Worldwide (Company Website).

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Hilton is a leading global hospitality with more than 3500 hotels in 81 countries and 130,000 employees. Hilton Worldwide encompasses 10 brands, including Hilton, Conrad, Doubletree, Embassy Suites, Hilton Garden Inn, Hampton Inn & Suites, Homewood Suites, Home2 Suites, and Hilton Grand Vacations (Company Website).

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UANI has learned that the Hilton Manhattan East will host Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's for his stay during the 2010 UN General Assembly.

"However, other firms — notably Lloyd’s Register, Bureau Veritas and Germanischer Lloyd — continue to provide services to Iranian and other vessels working in Iranian ports or waters." (Washington Post, "Congress sees shipping-certification firms as tool to tighten Iran noose," 12/5/2011)

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Lloyd's Register has offices in the Iranian cities of Bandar Abbas, Mahshahr and Tehran. (Lloyd's Register website "List of Offices by Country," February 2010)

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In 2008, Lloyd's Register America, Inc. acquired Martec, which has performed business in Iran's energy sector. (Martec Press Release)

In a correspondance with the SEC, AXA disclosed details regarding their investments in Iran.

“There are three non-US subsidiaries of the AXA Group provide insurance coverage to local subsidiaries or branches of entities known by AXA to be controlled by the government of Iran:  AXA UK has entered into insurance relationships with the UK operations of four state-controlled Iranian banks (three advisory relationships and one UK group pension relationship.  AXA Corporate Solutions, a French AXA subsidiary, has underwritten marine and aviation insurance policies for six companies based in Iran.  AXA Spain holds a 10% co-insurance participation in a marine insurance cover for an Iranian ship (AXA Spain took this 10% co-insurance participation under an insurance program covering the fleet of a Spanish fishing company which subsequently sold one of its boats –with its insurance cover- to an Iranian company.  The German branch of an AXA Assistance French subsidiary provides reinsurance coverage for 16 Iranian insurance companies. These reinsurance programs cover compulsory travel insurance for Iranian citizens entering the “Schengen area” (which consists of the European Union states where the free movement of persons is established). (CORRESP for AXA, 12/8/2009) 

"German reinsurer Hannover Re AG (HNR1.XE) said separately that it conducts a small amount of business in Iran and will only continue to do so if it complies strictly with United Nations and European Union sanctions.

The company said it 'conducts treaty business (proportional and non proportional) and a small amount of facultative business in the Republic of Iran,' without giving figures." (Dow Jones Newswires, "Allianz Suspends Iran Business, Hannover Re Honors Sanctions," 2/19/10)

"Allianz SE (ALV.XE), Europe's largest primary insurer by gross premiums, said Friday it is suspending business in Iran amid calls for tighter sanctions against the country after the International Atomic Energy Agency censured Tehran for its nuclear enrichment program.

'Allianz has decided not to renew insurance treaty business in Iran because of political developments in the region. This business amounts to negligible premiums,' Allianz said in a statement, without being more specific." (Dow Jones Newswires, "Allianz Suspends Iran Business, Hannover Re Honors Sanctions," 2/19/10)

"Open sources reported that Glencore sold gasoline to Iran in 2009, but subsequently stopped in 2009." (U.S. Government Accountability Office, Report: "Firms Reported in Open Sources to Have Sold Iran Refined Petroleum Products between January 1, 2009 and June," September 3, 2010)

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"Glencore, a commodities trader, was a large supplier of gasoline to Iran, but stopped last year in the face of threatened new economic sanctions by the U.S. government.  The company, and its predecessor, Marc Rich and Co., had done business with Iran for more than three decades. It also has provided the United States military with transporation services, among other things."  From 2000-2009, the company has been the recipient of $20.2 million US federal funds.  They have withdrawn their activities in Iran. (The New York Times, "Profiting from Iran, and the US," 3/6/2010)

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"Swiss commodities trader Glencore International AG halted gasoline shipments to Iran two to three months ago, people familiar with the matter said, a response in part to the rising prospect of heftier sanctions against the Islamic Republic for its nuclear program. Glencore declined to comment. Glencore has long been one of the biggest gasoline providers to Iran, and the move could frustrate Iran's ability to meet its country's fuel needs…The halt of Glencore's Iran business could also help the company prepare for an anticipated initial public offering. The U.S. House of Representatives last month passed legislation that bars any company that does more than $20 million in oil and gas business with Iran from doing business in the U.S. The Senate is expected to pass the bill early this year." (The Wall Street Journal, "Swiss Firm Halts Its Sales of Gas to Iran," 1/9/09)

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"Iran typically gets the bulk of its gasoline from the following five firms: Vitol (Switzerland/Netherlands), Trafigura (Switzerland/Netherlands), Reliance Industries Ltd. (India), Glencore (Switzerland) and Total (France)." (Stratfor, "Special Series:Iran Sanctions," September 2009)

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"Due to limited refining capabilities, Iran imports approximately 40% of its domestic gasoline consumption. Iran is the second-largest importer of gasoline in the world. That gasoline is supplied primarily by five companies: the Swiss-Dutch energy trading giants Vitol and Trafigura, the Indian multinational Reliance Industries, the Swiss trader Glencore and the French energy firm Total." (The Wall Street Journal, "Hitting Tehran Where It Hurts," 7/13/09)

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"Because of a lack of domestic refining capacity, oil-rich Iran is dependent on gasoline imports to meet about 40 percent of domestic consumption. Iran gets most of its gasoline imports from the Swiss firm Vitol, the Swiss/Dutch firm Trafigura, France's Total, the Swiss firm Glencore and British Petroleum, as well as the Indian firm Reliance." (Agence-France Press, "US lawmakers target Iran gasoline imports," 6/23/09)