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Chinese companies banned from doing business in the U.S. for allegedly selling missile technology to Iran continue to do a brisk trade with American companies, according to an analysis of shipping records.
A unit of state-owned China Precision Machinery Import-Export Corp., for example, has made nearly 300 illegal shipments to U.S. firms since a ban was imposed on CPMIEC and its affiliates in mid-2006, according to an analysis of shipping records by the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control, a nonprofit proliferation watchdog.
A Wall Street Journal review of the records and interviews with officials at some of the American companies indicate that the U.S. firms likely were unaware they were doing business with banned entities, and in many cases were tripped up by altered company names.
U.S. Reps. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) and Ron Klein (D-Fla.), along with 50 Democrats and Republicans, today sent a bipartisan letter to President Obama urging him to enforce current U.S. sanctions against companies investing in Iran’s energy sector. The letter comes one day after multilateral negotiations in Vienna ground to a halt when Iran replaced its lead nuclear negotiator with lower-level officials and made new demands for the right to highly-enriched uranium on Iranian soil.
"We spend a lot of time convincing other countries that we need tighter sanctions on Iran when we need to better enforce our own laws already on the books," says Wisconsin Project director Gary Milhollin,
U.S. enforcement officials say it can be difficult for U.S. companies to avoid doing business with foreign companies and individuals under sanction. Problems with translating company names can be an issue, they say. Sanctioned companies also have proved adept at creating aliases or subsidiary shell companies to mask their ownership, they say.
It is unlikely that most U.S. companies knowingly flout the import bans: Criminal penalties for doing so include prison time.
Originally posted by plumranch
Apparently US companies have difficulties knowing who or what company is legal to do business with:
Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hassan Qashqavi says sanctions imposed against Iran over its nuclear program are as ineffective as a ‘rusty sword’.
“The Iranian nation favors interaction and dialogue but will not surrender to pressure,” Qashqavi said, commenting on the West’s move to consider a September deadline for talks with Iran over its nuclear program.
The US House of Representatives has overwhelmingly approved new sanctions against Iran aimed at halting its disputed nuclear programme.
The measure empowers President Barack Obama to ban foreign firms that supply Iran with refined petroleum from doing business in the US.
The bill, which passed 412-12, can only become law if approved by the Senate.