Following UANI's Year-Long Campaign and Recent U.S. Sanctions, Maersk Cuts Its Ties to Iranian Ports Managed by Tidewater Middle East Co.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 30, 2011
Contact: Nathan Carleton, [email protected]  
Phone: (212) 554-3296      

Following UANI's Year-Long Campaign and Recent U.S. Sanctions, Maersk Cuts Its Ties to Iranian Ports Managed by Tidewater Middle East Co.

New York, NY -  United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) President, Ambassador Mark D. Wallace, issued the following statement in response to an announcement by Maersk, the world's largest shipping container firm, that it has suspended its shipments to Iranian ports managed by the sanctioned Tidewater Middle East Co.:    

For a year, UANI has been calling on Maersk to cut its ties to Tidewater Middle East Co., an entity controlled by the Iranian regime's notorious Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). We are pleased that Maersk has finally decided to stop shipping to Tidewater-managed ports, and we urge them to completely end all of their business in Iran.

There is little excuse for doing any business with the Iranian regime, particularly when it comes to a company like Maersk that receives more than $4 billion in contracts from the U.S. Department of Defense. Iran's regime has a long history of exploiting shipping companies in order to illegally import nuclear technology and arm terrorist groups. Companies that continue doing business in Iran are not 'victims' of Iran's deceit, they are complicit in Iran's strategy.

In July 2010, UANI first highlighted Tidewater's affiliation with the IRGC and called on Maersk to end its business in Iran. Last week, the U.S. Treasury Department blacklisted Tidewater and Iran Air for their ties to the IRGC and their involvement in the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

Click here to read UANI's Executive Research Report, "Iran's Exploitation of the Shipping Industry."