Caterpillar Moves to Cut Links with Iran
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Caterpillar, the U.S. building equipment group, has become the latest company to bow to Arcadia Foundation coalition member United Against Nuclear Iran’s “name and shame” campaign by announcing steps to sever trading links with Iran.
The Financial Times reported that the company would bar its non-U.S. subsidiaries from accepting orders for products that they knew were destined for delivery to Iran.
The New York-based UANI, which spearheaded a campaign against the Illinois company, greeted the announcement as its second victory in a month after Huntsman, the Texas chemicals manufacturer, announced in January that its foreign subsidiaries would suspend sales to Iran in view of the “reputational risk” posed to the company.
As western pressure mounts at the UN for a new round of global sanctions against Tehran over its nuclear programme, UANI and other lobbyists have targeted 200 US and foreign companies whose business with Iran is currently legal under US and international law. Companies have faced write-in campaigns and threats of divestment if they did not change their practices.
UANI persuaded General Electric to sign a voluntary declaration that it would have no dealings with Iran. Siemens, Italy’s ENI oil company and German insurers Munich Re and Allianz are among others that later announced they were either pulling out of Iran or not renewing business there.
UANI’s database of targeted companies includes industrial brand leaders in Europe, Asia and elsewhere, oil companies including Royal Dutch Shell, Total and Petrobras.
As part of the Caterpillar campaign, the pressure group this month erected a roadside billboard near the company’s headquarters in Peoria, Illinois that pictured one of the group’s earth diggers alongside a headshot of Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad, president of Iran, and the slogan “Today’s work, Tomorrow’s Nuclear Iran”. UANI said the billboard would be removed after a company statement late on Friday.
Caterpillar denied that it had extensive business in Iran, as the lobbyists claimed, and said it had no assets, operations or employees in that country. It acknowledged that Caterpillar products had reached Iran via third-party independent resellers as part of a secondary market which the company was unable to control.
On their website, the UANI stated that they ‘thank Caterpillar for making the responsible decision to end its business in Iran‘. We commend UANI on their innovative and determined campaign.