UANI Infiltration of Business Expos Cripples Iran’s Access to Foreign Investment

Campaign Results in Hundreds of Businesses Pulling Out of Tehran

(New York, N.Y.) - United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) was featured in the news this week as “The Organization Naming and Shaming Iran’s International Business Allies.” In a profile written by Adam Kredo, UANI’s years-long campaign to deter companies from doing business with the Iranian regime is credited with having “borne fruit.” Using operatives on the ground, UANI has been attending business expos in Iran and Europe to gather intelligence and track companies interested in or actively working with Iran.

“UANI's efforts on the business front, which are unique for a non-proliferation group, have been chilling. It has accomplished this by doing what no other advocacy group has endeavored to in recent years: sending covert operatives into Iran and Europe to penetrate the Islamic Republic's often secretive business fairs. These agents have been able to track companies still willing to work covertly with the rogue regime. In 2018, for instance, some 600 foreign companies from 38 countries registered to participate in the Iran Oil Show, the regime's premier energy fair …. The group has used this intelligence to petition nearly all of the companies involved, warning them of the risks of engaging with Tehran.”

UANI has waged a global pressure campaign by authoring letters to over 1,000 companies, speakers and entities with potential business interests in Iran. These letters enumerate the likely engagement with the regime, specify the business risk of doing so and demand that they “end their business dealings with Tehran or face public exposure.” The result has been a dramatic reduction in international business interest in Iran. For example, participation in the Iran Oil Show – Tehran’s “premiere energy fair” – dropped from 600 foreign companies in 2018 to only 44 this year.

“In 2018, for instance, some 600 foreign companies from 38 countries registered to participate in the Iran Oil Show, the regime's premier energy fair … By the time the 2019 Iran Oil Show rolled around in May, just 44 companies were scheduled to appear, a decline from the previous year of around 90 percent … UANI has had similar success across Europe. From 2014 to 2017, UANI penned scores of letters and undertook research initiatives to determine the identities of all the companies participating in Iranian business fairs across Europe, including in London, Geneva, and Zurich … The result: The 2018 and 2019 Europe-Iran Forums were effectively canceled due to lack of participation.”

Ultimately, UANI’s efforts have been instrumental in denying Iran critical access to foreign currency – used by Tehran to fund its worldwide network of terror proxies – and ensuring the success of the current administration’s maximum pressure campaign against Iran.

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