"both the Obama and Bush administrations have sent mixed messages to the corporate world when it comes to doing business in Iran, rewarding companies whose interests conflict with US security goals.... in the 14 years since the Iran Sanctions Act was passed, the government has never enforced it, in part for fear of angering allies."
Really puts a fine point on the FART-MISTING WAR RHETORIC, doesn't it, readers? You $EE WHO is calling the $HOTS, right?
"US is still paying companies that defy its policy on Iran" by Jo Becker and Ron Nixon, New York Times | March 7, 2010
NEW YORK - The federal government has awarded more than $107 billion in contract payments, grants, and loans over the past decade to foreign and multinational American companies while they were doing business in Iran, despite Washington’s efforts to discourage investment there, records show.
Those are YOUR TAX DOLLARS, AmeriKa -- as we spend TRILLIONS to "defend" ourselves.
That includes nearly $15 billion in benefits paid to companies that defied American sanctions law by making large investments that helped Iran develop its vast oil and gas reserves....
Is the WAR TALK now making you ANGRY like me, readers?!!
Now, with the nuclear standoff hardening and Iran rebuffing US diplomatic outreach, the Obama administration is trying to win a new round of UN sanctions.
Pffft!
But a New York Times analysis of federal records, company reports, and other documents shows that both the Obama and Bush administrations have sent mixed messages to the corporate world when it comes to doing business in Iran, rewarding companies whose interests conflict with US security goals.
More than two-thirds of the government money went to companies doing business in Iran’s energy industry - a huge source of revenue for the Iranian government and a stronghold of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, a focus of the Obama administration’s proposed sanctions....
Yup, YOUR TAX DOLLARS at work while the military prepares for World War III, AmeriKa.
All for ISRAEL. They are the ONLY NATION that has a PROBLEM with IRAN and LOOK where the "debate" is headed!
Other companies are involved in auto manufacturing and distribution, another important sector of the Iranian economy. One supplied container ship motors to a government-owned shipping line that was subsequently blacklisted by the United States for concealing arms shipments.
Beyond $102 billion in US government contract payments since 2000, the companies and their subsidiaries have reaped a variety of benefits. They include nearly $4.5 billion in loans and loan guarantees from the Export-Import Bank and more than $500 million in grants for work that includes cancer research.
Yeah, ALL TAXPAYER-FUNDED, Americans!
This as SERVICES are CHOPPED and TAXES RAISED while UNEMPLOYMENT and FORECLOSURES INCREASE!
In addition, oil and gas companies that have done business in Iran have over the years won lucrative drilling leases.
So there IS NO NEED FOR WAR as far as the ENERGY COMPANIES are CONCERNED, huh?
Yeah, JUST as in IRAQ, the wars are FOUGHT PRIMARILY for ISRAEL!
Sure, Cheney convinced them with his map dividing the oil fields and they are in there pumping now; however, that all could have been done much more cheaply and with less destruction with lease and drilling agreements.
Oh, yeah, Saddam didn't want to deal with U.S. firms, that's right. Hence an invasion was needed.
In recent months, a number of companies have withdrawn from Iran, because of a combination of pressure by the United States and other Western governments, campaigns by shareholders, and the difficulty of doing business with Iran’s government. And several oil and gas companies are holding off on new investment.
Translation: THEY KNOW an USRAELI ATTACK and WORLD WAR is COMING!!
They were TIPPED OFF!!!
The Obama administration points to that record, saying that it has successfully pressed allied governments and even reached out to corporate officials to dissuade investment in Iran. In addition, a US effort over many years to persuade banks to leave the country has isolated Iran from much of the international financial system, making it more difficult to complete deals there....
That was intended to hurt Iran? Really?
I would be THANKFUL if that were to occur here in AmeriKa.
The government can, and does, bar US companies from most types of trade with Iran, under a broad embargo that has been in place since the 1990s.
Well, NOT REALLY!!
Related: Iran is Paranoid
Of course, that does not mean someone is not out to get them.
But as the Times’ analysis illustrates, multiple administrations have struggled to exert US authority over companies outside the embargo’s reach - foreign companies and subsidiaries.
Hmmmmmmm.
Indeed, of the 74 companies the Times identified as doing business with both the US government and Iran, 49 continue to do business there.
One of the government’s most powerful tools to influence the behavior of companies beyond the jurisdiction of the embargo is the Iran Sanctions Act, devised to punish foreign companies that invest more than $20 million in a year to develop Iran’s oil and gas fields. But in the 14 years since the law was passed, the government has never enforced it, in part for fear of angering allies.
Then why did they even pass the damn thing?
Un-flipping-real!!!!
That has given rise to situations like the one involving the South Korean engineering giant Daelim Industrial, which in 2007 won a $700 million contract to upgrade an Iranian oil refinery.
According to the Congressional Research Service, the deal appeared to violate the Iran Sanctions Act. But in 2009 the Army awarded the company a $111 million contract to build housing in a South Korea base.So when does South Korea get put on the shit list, huh?
--more--"
Related: The Boston Globe's Invisible Ink: Tying China to Iran Using Taiwan
Oh, right, some firms are to be demonized for doing business in Iran.
