H:

Earlier this month, President Trump decided extend the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), commonly known as the Iran Deal, but warned that he will terminate the agreement unless members of Congress and our European allies work to strengthen the agreement. Since the Iran Deal was signed in 2015, some businesses have considered and sensibly rejected, while others regrettably have engaged in doing business with Iran, despite the obvious financial, legal and socio-political risks of doing so.

As part of the campaign to discourage companies from doing business with Iran, my organization, United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) has recently unveiled its Iran Risk Snapshot, a set of 27 financial, legal and sociopolitical indices from the world’s leading organizations that analyze the risks of doing business with the regime in Tehran.  Unsurprisingly, among these indices, Iran consistently ranks at or near the bottom.

Financially and legally speaking, reports from Forbes, The World Bank and the World Economic Forum have found that Iran is characterized by poor infrastructure and financing, in addition to unfavorable investment laws and a lack of transparency. This translates to real-world consequences, including an unacceptable propensity for money laundering and sanctions-violating risks.  Tehran’s own actions validate the risk associated with conducting business with the country.

Currently, a New York jury is deliberating the fate of Turkish-Iranian gold trader Reza Zarrab, who recently appeared in U.S. federal court and testified that he and Turkish banker Hakan Atilla ran a sprawling money laundering network from 2010 to 2015 that provided Iran access to international markets, despite U.S. sanctions.  In his testimony, Zarrab also discussed his connection to former Iranian President Ahmadinejad and noted a meeting between himself and the former chairman of the Central Bank of Iran. The case underscores Iran’s blatant willingness to disregard international financial norms to further its own interests.

Go to link