UANI Urges Doosan and Bobcat to End Their Business in Iran

May 11, 2011

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 11, 2011
Contact: Nathan Carleton, [email protected]  
Phone: (212) 554-3296    

 

UANI Urges Doosan and Bobcat to End Their Business in Iran

 

New York, NY -  United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) on Wednesday urged the Doosan Corporation of South Korea and its American subsidiary Bobcat to immediately end their business in Iran.

 

Doosan has a significant presence in Iran's energy sector, and has constructed at least nine power plants in Iran. Doosan has also worked with the state-owned Iranian oil company, and used the North Dakota-based Bobcat brand to sell construction equipment in Iran.

 

Said UANI President, Ambassador Mark Wallace:

 

Doosan needs to make the right decision, and end its business in Iran. It is unacceptable and dangerous for a South Korean company to be aiding Iran, particularly when the business is related to Iran's energy sector, which is dominated by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

 

Bobcat is a great American company that should be appalled at the thought of its equipment being used by Iran. Bobcat owes it to all its employees and customers to ensure Iran does not receive its products.

 

The website for the Tehran-based construction equipment distributor Touranto lists Bobcat as a supplier. Bobcat's American headquarters is in West Fargo, North Dakota, and it has been part of the Doosan group since 2007.

 

In a letter to Doosan CEO Yongmaan Park, Ambassador Wallace wrote:

 

Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapons program and developing the means to deliver those weapons with a ballistic missile program aided in large part by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).  The cooperation between Iran and the DPRK is particularly worrisome given that Kim Jong Il's regime has tested a nuclear device and has shown a long and established record of outward proliferation

 

UANI strongly encourages Doosan to follow the lead of other responsible companies like General Electric, Caterpillar, Kia, Komatsu, and Terex, and cease not only all exports to Iran, but its investments in Iran, particularly those that facilitate the ability of the regime in Tehran to pursue policies that threaten international security and run counter to the values of the global community. 

 

***

 

In addition to the potential loss of contracts with the U.S. government, long-term damage to Doosan and Bobcat's corporate image is at stake...  Iran has an egregious human rights record and continues to defy the world by aggressively pursuing a nuclear weapons program with the support of pariahs like North Korea.


Click here to send a message to Doosan and Bobcat.
Click here to read the full text of the letter to Doosan and Bobcat.      

Click here to learn more about the Iran Disclosure Project.

 

###