UANI Calls On European, Canadian Entities To Cease Involvement In Sanctions Evasion, Cut Ties With Iran

(New York, N.Y.) — In conjunction with previous reports published by the Wall Street Journal, United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) has identified multiple Western companies that have supplied energy-related products or services to Iran and received payment through the sanctioned Iranian bank, Bank Shahr. Among them, three entities were given the opportunity by UANI to clarify their roles: M. Trade Gornja Radgona d.o.o. of Slovenia, MPD Reservoir Engineers Ltd of Canada and Austria’s University Leoben. Both M. Trade and University Leoben declined to address the specific claims against them, while MPD issued a general response claiming that - following legal advice - “At all times MPD has ensured that it was complying with all of the laws applicable to it…”

These actions follow months of UANI inquiries with mainly Turkish, Chinese, and Singaporean banks, who are suspected of facilitating the illicit supply of Western products and services to Iran’s sanctioned energy sector over multiple years via the same sanctioned Bank Shahr. 

Additional online reporting corroborating the claims of the existence of a global sanctions evasion network established by Iran identified evidence of each entity’s relationship with sanction-designated Iran energy companies. The documents uncovered include direction from the sanction-designated National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) to Bank Shahr naming MPD Reservoir Engineers and University Leoben each as beneficiaries for payment. In a similar vein, the same reporting published invoices from M. Trade requesting payment from the sanction-designated Tabriz Petrochemical Co., delivered through Shahr Bank.  

In providing services, products, and other resources to the Iranian regime including the Iranian economy’s most dominant force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), M. Trade, University Leoben, and MPD Reservoir Engineers each associate themselves with the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism. In turn, each is assuming great legal, political, financial, and reputational risks.

To read UANI’s resource Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), please click here.  

“It is essential that all companies, organizations, academic institutions, and other international entities, including M. Trade, University Leoben, and MPD Reservoir Engineers commit to cutting all existing ties in and with Iran and cease any operations related to the regime until it has verifiably begun to comport with international law on all fronts,” said UANI Research Director Daniel Roth. “While the Iranian authorities are right now murdering women and brutalizing protesters, business ties with Iran and very likely the IRGC is a tremendous risk wholly disproportionate to the immediate gains. We continue to seek a response from University Leoben and M. Trade.”

To read UANI’s resource, Business Risk Matrix, please click here.  

To read the letters UANI sent to the Canadian and European entities, please click here.  

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