UANI Calls for Increased Pressure on Iran's Collapsing Shipping Industry

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 23, 2012 Contact: Nathan Carleton, press@uani.com  Phone: (212) 554-3296      UANI Calls for Increased Pressure on Iran's Collapsing Shipping Industry IRISL: "If this Situation Continues, Certainly our Operations will Face Serious Problems ... More Pressure will Result in Greater Damage."     New York, NY - On Tuesday, United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) CEO, Ambassador Mark D. Wallace, issued the following statement regarding comments made by the managing director of the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL), who said that Iran's shipping industry is now suffering from economic pressure and "will face serious problems" and "greater damage" "if this situation continues": The IRISL's statement confirms that economic pressure and international sanctions are having a tangible and debilitating effect on Iran's shipping industry and the regime. By ending the provision of insurance to Iranian vessels, compelling global classification societies to stop certifying Iranian vessels, pressuring countries to stop reflagging Iranian vessels, and sanctioning the supply of spare parts for Iranian tankers, UANI and the international community have made it increasingly difficult for the Iranian regime to export oil, access international trade markets, and ship weapons to its proxies in the region. The international community must now pressure the regime even further, and demonstrate that it will face economic collapse unless it gives up its nuclear weapons program. The U.S. and EU should adopt measures barring vessels that dock in Iran or transport Iranian cargo from ports in the U.S. or EU. We also call on all countries worldwide to refuse to reflag Iranian vessels. The statements by IRISL leadership demonstrate unequivocally that existing pressure is having a major effect. Increasing it now could make the difference in forcing Iran to choose between having a nuclear weapon, or having a functioning economy. UANI has highlighted the shipping industry as an area where the international community can further pressure Iran. In a March 17 Wall Street Journal Op-Ed, six UANI board members wrote that "the world must deny Iran's access to international shipping, a move that would severely affect the regime given its dependence on global trade and seaborne crude oil exports." The prominent shipping services Bureau Veritas, Germanischer Lloyd, the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping, the Korean Register of Shipping, and ClassNK have all stopped certifying Iranian vessels in response to UANI. According to Reuters, "the number of vessels calling at [Iranian] ports has dived by more than half this year." Click here to read UANI's Wall Street Journal Op-Ed, "Total Sanctions Might Stop Iran." Click here to visit UANI's Shipping Campaign page. ###  United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) is a program of the American Coalition Against Nuclear Iran, Inc., a tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. The prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran should concern every American and be unacceptable to the community of nations. Since 1979 the Iranian regime, most recently under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's leadership, has demonstrated increasingly threatening behavior and rhetoric toward the US and the West. Iran continues to defy the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the United Nations in their attempts to monitor its nuclear activities. A number of Arab states have warned that Iran's development of nuclear weapons poses a threat to Middle East stability and could provoke a regional nuclear arms race. In short, the prospect of a nuclear armed Iran is a danger to world peace. United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) is a non-partisan, broad-based coalition that is united in a commitment to prevent Iran from fulfilling its ambition to become a regional super-power possessing nuclear weapons.  UANI is an issue-based coalition in which each coalition member will have its own interests as well as the collective goal of advancing an Iran free of nuclear weapons. The Objectives of United Against a Nuclear Iran Inform the public about the nature of the Iranian regime, including its desire and intent to possess nuclear weapons, as well as Iran's role as a state sponsor of global terrorism, and a major violator of human rights at home and abroad; Heighten awareness nationally and internationally about the danger that a nuclear armed Iran poses to the region and the world; Mobilize public support, utilize media outreach, and persuade our elected leaders to voice a robust and united American opposition to a nuclear Iran; Lay the groundwork for effective US policies in coordination with European and other allies; Persuade the regime in Tehran to desist from its quest for nuclear weapons, while striving not to punish the Iranian people, and; Promote efforts that focus on vigorous national and international, social, economic, political and diplomatic measures. UANI is led by an advisory board of outstanding national figures representing all sectors of our country.

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