AJC Applauds German Steel Giant's Iran Pull Out, Urges Closure of Iranian Trade Bank

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Sep 26, 2010, 11:16 ET

BERLIN, Sept. 26 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- AJC praised the German steel conglomerate Thyssen Krupp for announcing that it will prohibit all new business with Iran. A company spokesman said it is acting in support of German, EU and U.S. trade sanctions against Tehran, which has defied four UN Security Council resolutions demanding transparency over its nuclear program.

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"Thyssen Krupp's decision to withdraw from Iran is commendable," said Deidre Berger, Director of AJC's Berlin Office. "It demonstrates growing corporate awareness that it does not pay to do business with Iran as long as it continues to pursue nuclear weapons and promote terrorism."

Thyssen Krupp is the sixth German corporation this year to announce an end to business with Iran. The other five were Siemens, Daimler, Muenchener Rueck, Allianz, and Linde.

However, the trend by major German corporations to stop new business with Iran has not yet affected overall trade. New German government statistics reveal that Germany exported 14 percent more goods to Iran in the first half of 2010 compared to the previous year, with July figures at a similarly high level.

"Bureaucratic delays cannot be allowed to block the urgent implementation of sanctions," said Berger. "We also urge the German government to respond favorably to the American request to shut down the Hamburg headquarters of the European-Iranian trade bank (EIH), which has played a major role in assisting Iran's nuclear ambitions."

Earlier this month, Stuart Levey, U.S. Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, said, "As one of Iran's few remaining access points to the European financial system, EIH has facilitated a tremendous volume of transactions for Iranian banks previously blacklisted for proliferation."

SOURCE American Jewish Committee