United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) calls on Japanese classification society Nippon Kaiji Kyokai (ClassNK) to close its Tehran office
ClassNK maintains an office in Tehran and provides certification for two Iranian radio firms that service Iranian shipping companies.
In a July 12, 2012 letter to ClassNK Chairman and President Noboru Ueda, UANI CEO, Ambassador Mark D. Wallace, wrote:
By providing services to these companies, ClassNK is directly facilitating the operations of Iran’s shipping sector, an action that enables the Iranian government to circumvent multilateral sanctions that have been imposed to prevent it from further developing its illegal nuclear weapons program.
The argument that ClassNK does not directly service Iranian vessels is without merit. The certification services provided by ClassNK to Arya Azhand Darya and Persia Hormoz Shipyard, two radio firms that service Iranian vessels, amounts to the functional equivalent of support for Iran’s shipping industry.
Of particular concern to UANI is that the Persia Hormoz Shipyard is directly linked to the Iran Shipbuilding and Offshore Industries Complex (“ISOICO”), a subsidiary of the Industrial Development and Renovation Organization of Iran (“IDRO”). IDRO is a regime-controlled entity dedicated to advancing the development of Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
In December 2011, the Japanese government sanctioned SADRA (“Iran Marine Industrial Company”), a sister company of ISOICO, as an entity that “could contribute to Iran’s sensitive nuclear proliferation activities and development of nuclear weapons transport systems.”