Treasury Hits Iran With Another Proliferation Freeze
By Jonathan Winer
Today, the U.S. Treasury designated three more Iranian companies as proliferators, prohibiting transactions by U.S. persons with the firms.
Each of the three firms -- the Kalaye Electric Company, Kavoshyar Company, and Pioneer Energy Industries Company -- were cited by Treasury as being Iranian state-owned entities that were directly supporting Iranian nuclear acquisition efforts.
Iran acknowledged in 2003 that a workshop of the Kalaye Electric Company in Tehran had manufacturered centrifuge components, but denied they related to nuclear material. But the Iranians refused access to elements of the site during an IAEA inspection that year, which did not enhance Iran's credibility on the issue.
Kavoshyar Company has been characterized in the past as a front company for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) and was identified by the British government in February 1998 as having procured goods and/or technology for weapons of mass destruction programs, in addition to non-proliferation related activities.
Pioneer Energy has in the past been cited as involved in building uranium processing plants for the AEOI.
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