"Shares of South Africa's MTN Group Ltd. fell Friday after the company said it is investigating claims by Turkey's largest mobile-phone operator that it engaged in corruption to secure a deal in Iran... The allegations come as MTN's Iranian operation is the target of a U.S. lobby group, which is seeking to get foreign businesses to leave Iran. United Against Nuclear Iran last week sent a letter to MTN Chief Executive Sifiso Dabengwa calling for the company to pull out of the country, alleging MTN's technology is being used by Iran's government to locate and track mobile-phone users. MTN declined to comment on the letter at the time, but said it had no intention of leaving the country."
UANI in the News
Feb 03 2012 New York Times |
 |
"The Senate Banking Committee unanimously approved a new regimen of anti-Iran sanctions on Thursday that would for the first time threaten to punish the global financial telecommunications network that nearly all banks rely on to conduct their daily business. The legislation’s banking provision, aimed at forcing the telecommunications network to expel Iranian banks that have already been blacklisted, would be financially catastrophic for Iran if carried out fully, according to proponents and sanctions experts. Expulsion from the network — the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, known as Swift — would deny to Iran many billions of dollars in revenue from abroad that is routinely routed into its domestic banking system. 'The Senate Banking Committee has sent a strong message,' said Mark D. Wallace, the president of United Against Nuclear Iran, an advocacy group based in New York that has been pushing for such a provision. He has argued that Swift, which based in Belgium, is already in violation of other sanctions against Iran as well as its own rules. 'Swift must end its business in Iran,' he said. The legislation does not specify what action would be taken against Swift if it did not comply. There was no immediate comment by Swift on the legislation. But officials of the network, mindful of pressure from Mr. Wallace’s group and others that have increasingly advocated stricter sanctions against Iran, denied it was acting illegally, in a statement posted earlier Thursday on the network’s Web site."
Feb 02 2012 NewsCore |
 |
"The global institution charged with facilitating international financial transactions was embroiled in controversy Thursday over its relationship with Iranian banks. The US Senate Banking Committee passed a bill Thursday that, if passed into law, would authorize the Treasury Department to sanction Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) if it does not sever its ties with Iran. SWIFT, based in Belgium, provides the global network through which financial institutions transfer money to each other... The move by the committee comes after a week of calls by United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), a nonpartisan foreign policy advocacy group, for SWIFT to terminate its work with Iran. UANI contends that SWIFT violates EU and US sanctions by granting Iran access to its financial-messaging network. On Monday, UANI President Mark Wallace, a former US ambassador to the United Nations, sent SWIFT's leadership, international banking and regulatory officials, and US lawmakers a letter detailing SWIFT's violations of US and EU sanctions against Iran."
Feb 02 2012 Associated Press |
 |
“During his presidential campaign in 2007, Republican candidate Mitt Romney promised that a trust overseeing his financial portfolio would shed any investments that conflicted with GOP positions toward Iran, China, stem cell research and other issues. But Romney's family trusts kept some of those stocks and repeatedly bought new investments in similar holdings as recently as 2010, when they were sold in advance of his latest White House campaign, a detailed review of Romney's financial records by The Associated Press shows… Many of those companies are included among an extensive list compiled by United Against Nuclear Iran, a bipartisan group urging pressure on firms with business in Iran. A spokesman for the group, Nathan Carleton, declined to comment on Romney's holdings. But Carleton noted that the group's list—it named several of the firms the Romney trusts bought stock in—‘is available for anyone to investigate.’”
Feb 01 2012 New York Times |
|
"In a sign that the sanctions could tighten further, United Against Nuclear Iran, a New York-based advocacy group that has successfully promoted other economic penalties against Iran, said it had started a campaign to publicize Iran’s dependence on the global financial telecommunication network that nearly every financial institution uses to conduct business. On Monday the group sent a letter to the network, the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, known as Swift, warning it to end all relations with Iran’s central bank and 'deny access to all Iranian banks.' The letter asserted that Iran’s membership in the network already violated American and European financial sanctions as well as Swift’s own rules. There was no immediate comment to the letter from either Iran or Swift, which is headquartered in Belgium. Mark D. Wallace, president of United Against Nuclear Iran, said in a telephone interview that the group might seek Congressional hearings on Iran’s Swift membership, which he described as crucial to the country’s economic survival. 'This campaign has the potential to force action,' Mr. Wallace said. 'In some ways it’s a silver bullet. If the Iranians don’t have access to Swift, they can’t get access to revenue.'"
Jan 27 2012 Wall Street Journal |
 |
"South Africa's flagship telecommunications company MTN Group Ltd. said Friday that it won't pull out of Iran after it became the target of an influential U.S. lobby group campaign seeking the exit of foreign businesses in the country. MTN has a 49% stake in Iran's second-largest mobile phone operator and 21% of its subscriber base is from the country, according to its most recent figures. The lobby group's campaign comes as the U.S. and Europe are enacting new sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program. In a letter sent to MTN's Chief Executive Sifiso Dabengwa this week seen by Dow Jones Newswires, Mark Wallace, the president of lobby group United Against Nuclear Iran and a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said MTN is enabling the Iranian government to track and locate cellphone users which it says is a violation of human rights. The group wants the company to either scale back in Iran or exit the country."
Jan 26 2012 Daily Caller |
 |
"Earlier this month, United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) sent a letter to Jennifer Lopez, the well-known actress, singer and judge for 'American Idol,' asking her to renounce her ties to the Italian automaker Fiat. Most Americans have seen Ms. Lopez's Fiat commercials, which she filmed as part of a multimillion-dollar deal that also includes product placement during her performances. The reasoning behind our campaign is simple: Ms. Lopez is the most prominent spokesperson for Fiat, and Fiat - through its business in Iran - is undermining U.S. national security and human rights. Fiat maintains an active business presence in Iran, and through its subsidiary Iveco has sold vehicles to the Iranian regime which have been used to transport ballistic missiles and stage gruesome public executions. It is important to place Fiat's activities in Iran in a broader geopolitical context. For one, U.S. automakers are prohibited from selling automobiles in Iran, due to laws passed in an overwhelmingly bipartisan fashion and signed by presidents both Democratic and Republican. The goal of those laws, and the Obama administration's policy towards Iran, is to exert economic pressure on Iran's government until it stops pursuing policies that threaten global peace and security as well as the rights of its citizens. When it comes to Iran, no company can ever be sure how its products might be used, or what the taxes it is paying the Iranian Treasury might help fund. UANI has tried to make Ms. Lopez aware of this fact."
Jan 23 2012 Wall Street Journal |
|
"U.S. diplomats and lobbyists are stepping up pressure to reduce African commercial ties to Iran as part of a growing global push to squeeze Tehran, an effort that has already led several African companies to consider leaving the country. Among the results so far, Angola's state-owned energy company, Sonangol, is considering pulling out of an Iranian gas deal, and Sasol Ltd. of South Africa says it is discussing whether to divest itself of its 50% share in a $900 million Iranian petrochemical project... Separately, Washington lobby group United Against Nuclear Iran says it is preparing a campaign to persuade South Africa's flagship telecommunications company MTN Group Ltd. to abandon its stake in Iran's second-largest cellphone operation. The company derives 21% of its subscriber base from Iran, according to data from September. Nathan Carleton, spokesman for United Against Nuclear Iran, says the group fears investment in Iranian telecommunication aids government censorship and efforts by officials to track cellphone users. MTN declined to comment on its business in Iran."
Jan 22 2012 New York Daily News |
 |
"Jennifer Lopez is having more car trouble. The group, United Against Nuclear Iran, released a statement Friday and an online parody of the 'American Idol' judge's 'My World' Fiat commercial, urging her to cut ties with the group because of their business ties to Iran. The faux commercial features the J-Lo ad intercut with bloody imagery of the protests in Iran. A narrator, immitating J-Lo, says, 'Fiat and the brutal Iranian regime... or the people of Iran. I hope concerned citizens don't make me choose.' In an open letter to Lopez, the organization's company wrote that by endorsing the car company the pop star was 'serving as a spokesperson for a company that freely does business with a regime that is developing an illegal nuclear weapons program, financing and sponsoring terrorist groups including al-Qaeda, has killed American and NATO soldiers and is recognized as one of the world's leading human right's violators.'"
Jan 20 2012 Fox News |
 |
"The organization, United Against a Nuclear Iran (UANI) has put JLO on blast again and this time there are graphic images involved. Last week the UANI, dedicated to prevent the development of a nuclear weapon in Iran, urged Lopez to end her deal with FIAT because they claim the Italian car company continues to do business with Iran. They gave her a Wednesday deadline to cut ties with the auto maker. On Friday, the foreign policy advocacy group, released a parody of Lopez's FIAT commercial, drastically different to the original FIAT ad. In the parody, a voice similar to JLO's says that she 'supports terrorists' and that she has sold out because 'Fiat does pay me millions.'"
- 1 of 14
- ››
Join us on
Search