Jan 11, 2009
Source: Yahoo.com
Iran uses front companies to flout US export ban
Iran uses front companies to flout US export ban
WASHINGTON, (AFP) – Iran is successfully using front companies based in the Gulf region and Asia to import American technology that can be can have military use, The Washington Post reported on its website.
Citing US researchers and Justice Department documents, the newspaper said Iran in the past two years had acquired numerous banned items including circuit boards, software and Global Positioning System devices that are used to make sophisticated versions of the improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, that kill US troops in Iraq.
The trade was briefly disrupted after the United States imposed sanctions against several Dubai-based, Iranian front companies in 2006, but the technology pipeline to Tehran is now flowing at an even faster pace, the report said.
In some cases, Iran simply opened new front companies and shifted its operations from Dubai to Asia, said the paper, citing unnamed officials.
"Without doubt, it is still going on," the report quoted one former US intelligence official as saying.
Bomb circuitry is only a part of the global clandestine trade that continues to flourish, The Post said.
