Moldova:  U.S. State Department Clarifies Sanctions

The United States has sanctioned three Moldovan entities for allegedly aiding Iran’s ballistic missile efforts through the transfer of items controlled under Category 2 of the Missile Technology Control Regime’s annex, U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said yesterday (see GSN, May 28).

This corrects earlier erroneous reports that indicated the entities were sanctioned after they allegedly transferred MTCR Category 1 items to Iran.

The two-year sanctions against the Moldovan entities — two Moldovan companies and a Moldovan citizen — were announced yesterday in the Federal Register and went into effect earlier this month (U.S. State Department release, May 28).

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Moldova:  United States Sanctions Three Moldovan Entities for Aiding Iran

By Mike Nartker
Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — The United States has imposed economic sanctions on three Moldovan entities for knowingly aiding Iran’s ballistic missile program, a U.S. State Department official told Global Security Newswire today (see GSN, Nov. 15, 2002).

The sanctions, which took effect May 9, prohibit Moldovan companies Cuanta S.A. and Computer & Communicatii SRL, as well as Moldovan citizen Mikhail Pavlovich Vladov, from importing items from the United States that are controlled by the Missile Technology Control Regime and the U.S. Arms Export Control Act for two years, according to a notice published today in the Federal Register. 

The Moldovan entities were sanctioned under the U.S. missile sanctions law, the State Department official said.  Under the missile sanctions law, the entities were found to have knowingly transferred MTCR Category 1 items to Iran that Tehran could use in its missile program, the official said.  MTCR Category 1 items include complete missiles — or component systems that can be used to assemble missiles — capable of carrying a 500-kilogram payload farther than 300 kilometers, such as Iran’s Shahab 1 missile, the State official said. 

The three entities had previously been sanctioned in May 2002 under the Iran Nonproliferation Act for the same transactions with Iran that resulted in today’s announced sanctions, the State official said (see GSN, May 10, 2002).  Under the Iran Nonproliferation Act, sanctions can be imposed against companies for transferring items controlled by a multilateral export control regime, the official said. 

In addition, the United States has also imposed sanctions on an Iranian company, the Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group, which prohibits it from conducting business with the United States for two years, according to a notice published today in the Federal Register.  The United States last week announced sanctions against Shahid Hemmat for missile-related transfers involving the state-owned Chinese company North China Industries Corporation (see GSN, May 23).

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China:  Beijing Denies U.S. Missile Export Charges

China criticized Friday the U.S. decision to impose sanctions on the state-owned North China Industries Corporation (Norinco) for allegedly aiding Iran’s ballistic missile efforts (see GSN, May 24).

The sanctions, which took effect May 9, prohibit Norinco from entering into contracts with the United States or importing goods into the country for two years.  In addition, the U.S. State Department has also suspended all defense-related export licenses for the company.

“The United States is imposing its national policies on others, and the implementation of sanctions is entirely unreasonable,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

In its statement, the ministry said that Chinese missile-related export controls were being effectively enforced and denied that Norinco had aided the Iranian missile program (see GSN, Sept. 3, 2002).

“The Chinese government has consistently carried out measures to prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction and the means of delivering them, and opposes any method used by any organization to engage in their spread,” the ministry said.  “The related Norinco company has not supplied any assistance to the relevant project in Iran,” it said (John Pomfret, Washington Post, May 24).

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