13 May 2008

Ronald S. Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress (WJC) and a former United States ambassador to Austria, has asked shareholders of the Austrian energy group OMV to urge the company's management to suspend multi-billion-dollar deals with Iran until Tehran is in full compliance with United Nations demands regarding its nuclear program.

"Currently, the Iranian regime is openly defiant of the UN sanctions imposed against it. It threatens Israel with annihilation and sponsors terrorist groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah. Therefore, it is wrong for any Western company to sign business deals of such a magnitude with the regime in Tehran," the WJC president pointed out.

Lauder added: "Because of its recent history, Austria has a moral responsibility to fight the Iranian threat. As the biggest shareholder, the government should bring its influence to bear on OMV. As in Switzerland, politicians err if they believe that the economic interests are more important than the threat posed by Iran." The Austrian government still controls over 30 per cent of the shares in OMV, the largest listed company in Austria and Central Europe's leading oil and gas corporation. Referring to Israel's 60th anniversary, Lauder said: "OMV shareholders will meet for the Annual General Meeting in Vienna on 14 May, on the day sixty years after the independence of Israel, a country that Iran's President Ahmadinejad wants to wipe off the map. Let's hope that OMV decides to pursue alternative options instead of giving Iran the international recognition they so desperately seek."

OMV has a number of energy interests in Iran. In 2007, the company signed an agreement with Iran's state-owned natural gas company to develop the South Pars gas field in the Persian Gulf, following a similar agreement in 2001. In April, OMV signed a deal with Iran to build a plant for liquefied natural gas, reportedly Iran's biggest such contract with Europe valued at up to US $30 billion over 25 years. British prime minister Gordon Brown and US president George W. Bush recently announced a push for the inclusion of liquefied natural gas in the list of UN sanctions should Iran continue to ignore the demands by the UN Security Council.

Read about the WJC's campaign to Stop the Iranian Threat

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