In Case You Missed It: "Iran Feels Heat as Europe Ship Classifiers Halt Work" Reuters Profiles UANI's Latest Campaign Success

June 18, 2012

In Case You Missed It: "Iran Feels Heat as Europe Ship Classifiers Halt Work"

Reuters Profiles UANI's Latest Campaign Success

By Jonathan Saul
Reuters
June 18, 2012

Germany's Germanischer Lloyd (GL) has stopped verifying safety and environmental standards for Iran's biggest shipping companies, a letter from the company showed, the last big European classification society to pull back as sanctions heat up. ...

In a letter sent to U.S. pressure group United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) dated June 15 and seen by Reuters, GL said it had stopped offering services to the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) and the National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC).

"It is of the utmost importance that we maintain our good reputation," GL said in the letter. "Therefore, we have pursued the decision to cease rendering services to the Iranian companies mentioned." ...

UANI, which includes former U.S. ambassadors on its board and is funded by private donations, had said GL's cover for IRISL was in violation of EU sanctions. UANI, which seeks to prevent Iran getting nuclear weapons, had also pressured Bureau Veritas before the French firm stopped its Iran cover. ...

Mark Wallace, UANI's chief executive and a former U.S. ambassador, welcomed GL's decision.

"The shipping industry is now set to help deny the Iranian regime critical access to global trade and seaborne crude oil exports," Wallace said in a statement.

"GL is absolutely correct in stating that working with the Iranian regime is badly damaging to a corporation's good name and reputation," he added. ... 

Click here to read the full article.
Click here to read UANI's June 12 letter to GL.
Click here to visit UANI's Shipping Campaign page.

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