16.03.2011
Campaign to stop crane sales to Iran
An organisation called United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), has written to Ron Defeo chief executive of Terex calling on him to stop selling cranes to Iran, where they are increasingly being used for public executions.
Terex responded immediately stating that it had already suspended its dealings with Iran well before this campaign was launched, and has demanded that the organisation remove its name from its campaign.
The letter, highlights the Iranian regime's method of public hangings from various types of crane, and the organisation says that it has called on others, including Manitowoc, Tadano, UNIC, Liebherr, Cargotec, Konecranes, XCMG, Kobelco, Zoomlion and Gottwald to account for their business in Iran and the likelihood that their cranes are being used for public executions.
The letter from UANI president Mark D. Wallace says: “As part of its newly launched “Cranes Campaign,” UANI is urging all crane manufacturers, including Terex, to end their business operations in Iran until the current regime in Tehran ends this grisly practice and stops threatening the world through the pursuit of an illegal nuclear weapons program.”
It goes on to say that Iran has executed at least 132 people since the New Year, putting it on target to exceed the 179 reportedly executed in 2010.
Terex while asked to respond by March 25th, it replied immediately with the following statement:
“Terex believes that a company's conduct and its reputation are among its most valuable assets, and we strive to be good national and global citizens. As a global company, Terex also respects the human rights of all individuals around the world. In this regard, Terex Corporation shares many of the concerns of UANI relating to the Iranian regime.”
“While Terex Corporation has always complied with U.S. laws, for some time now Terex has had an internal policy prohibiting all new business transactions in Iran for all of its subsidiaries, even if the transaction would otherwise be permissible under U.S. law or the laws of other countries. We regret that the UANI organization did not check its facts with Terex before targeting Terex in its New Cranes Campaign.”
“We call on UANI to immediately remove Terex from its New Cranes Campaign, rescind its related press release and open letter posted on its website, and correct its inaccurate statements as to Terex.”
To see the letter in full click here
Vertikal Comment
This organisation has clearly more of an issue with Iran than just its use of cranes for public executions. Its letter tends to rant and run to rhetoric in places, with an apparent hatred of the Iranian regime seeming to be at the top of its agenda, rather than the fate of those hanged.
My singling out Terex for a direct attack it, appears to be more of stunt to gain publicity for its views than a genuine concern. And it could be argued that by covering the story we are playing right into their hands.
At the very least its tactics and tendency to rant about the regime in general, undermines what is a very valid issue – not that stopping crane shipments will make the blindest bit of difference to the number of people the regime decides to hang. But anyone working for a crane company that sees one of its machines used for such purposes will naturally be distressed and open to take any steps that might prevent it.
UPDATE
Terex responded that it had already stopped deliveries to Iran
See Lobby Group applauds Terex
vertikal editor
J Mathews makes some valid points and we have added a link to the full letter so that you can read it for yourselves.
By 'single attack' we meant that by writing a single open letter to just one company and then issuing a press release about it - smacked of a publicity stunt - but this is just an opinion.
We have also looked over the comment again to ensure that it truly relfect what we intended to say.
Rant might be a little strong? but the letter - purporting to be about crane hangings - goes on to drag up several unrelated 'beefs' this group has with the regime in Tehran.
We will certainly keep an eye on this situation and publish any relevant updates. In the meantime we very much appreciate comments of this calibre and content, and would very much like to see more of such input.
Ed
For quite a while I have enjoyed your online publication here at Vertikal. That said, I'm afraid that I have to call into question some of the conclusions and statements made in this article by both Terex and the article’s author. While UANI’s concern may be more about the Iranian regime itself, and not necessarily those executed, I think it’s valuable for the industry to be aware of the situation. No one wants their logo to be featured on Sky News or CNN next to someone’s who’s been hanged.
1. It is stated in the article that: "…for some time now Terex has had an internal policy prohibiting all new business transactions in Iran for all of its subsidiaries"
Yet, filings by Terex in 2009 to the SEC indicate that Terex’s subsidiaries have sales in total of about $43 Million USD in Iran from 2006 to 2008. Terex argues that it “does not consider this level of activity to be quantitatively material…” which is arguably correct. However, this seems to contradict Terex’s claim that it has had an internal policy against new business in Iran.
Source: http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/97216/000009721609000159/filename1.htm
Granted, “for some time now” is a relative statement. I would hope that it would mean longer than just two years. I think some additional clarity would be appropriate. When exactly was this policy put into effect?
2. In reviewing UANI’s website, I could find nothing that particularly struck me as a rant. Their arguments seemed emotional, of course, but also reasonable and valid. If their letter to Terex was mostly just a “rant”, I think it would be beneficial for you to provide it to your readers, so that they can make up their own mind whether to support UANI’s initiative or not. I respectfully ask that permission be sought to make this available.
3. In the Vertikal Comment, UANI’s letter and campaign is described as a “single company attack on Terex”, yet earlier in the article it is noted that: “…the organization says that it has called on others, including Manitowoc, Tadano, UNIC, Liebherr, Cargotec, Konecranes, XCMG, Kobelco, Zoomlion and Gottwald to account for their business in Iran and the likelihood that their cranes are being used for public executions.”
This would seem to suggest that UANI is approaching many of the industry leaders on this issue, and it not simply targeting one particular company merely for publicity. It should be noted that all of the previously mentioned companies do have a mention on UANI’s website as well. Terex is not singled out.
I understand that this may be too controversial a subject for an industry publication such as this, and certainly not its primary focus. However it was important enough to post an article on this subject for your readers now, and it would be a great service to your readers to continue coverage and investigation into this issue.