Word: dubai
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...officials say, the heavy volume of legitimate trade moving from Dubai to Iran - trade between the two countries was worth $12 billion last year, most of it imports into Iran - makes it easier to camouflage illicit items. About 400,000 Iranians live in Dubai, and about 8,000 Iranian companies are registered there, including two major banks, Bank Melli Iran and Bank Saderat Iran, both of which are currently under U.S. sanctions on the allegation that they're funding Iran's nuclear program...
...recent years, Dubai customs officials have uncovered U.S. aircraft parts bound for Iran's military, and last April U.S. officials arrested an Iranian living in California for trying to smuggle U.S. attack helicopters to Iran's military via export companies in Dubai. U.S. officials believe that any sanctions that effectively target Iran's nuclear energy and prevent Iran from importing the equipment needed to overhaul its aging oil infrastructure would have to plug the Dubai loophole. (See the top 10 players in Iran's power struggle...
Levey says he has flown to Dubai about 12 times over the past two years, attempting to persuade officials of the United Arab Emirates (of which Dubai forms part) to crack down. "The UAE is really grappling with the issue," he says. "The Emirates are aware of the reputational risks with dealing with Iran, and they take those risks seriously...
...uphill battle. Al-Jazeera TV last week showed footage of a packed wharf in Dubai, piled high with goods, including boxes of Panasonic flat-screen televisions and Whirlpool refrigerators - possibly in violation of U.S. sanctions if American companies are exporting to Iran without U.S. government licenses - but with no customs agent in sight. Only a small portion of shipments are checked, and officials rely on the honesty of shipping brokers in filling out manifests. (See the top 10 scandals...
Iran's deep roots in Dubai's economy pose a further problem for any more expansive sanctions regime. There are Iranian stores, restaurants and companies in almost every building in Dubai, and tens of thousands of Iranians fly regularly to the emirate, many simply to enjoy its free-wheeling lifestyle. "We're talking about tremendous volumes [of exports] in Dubai," says Lisa Prager, former assistant deputy secretary of commerce, who dispatched the first attache to Dubai in 2002 to try to stop military smuggling to Iran; as a Washington attorney, she now represents companies that have been charged with transshipping...