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Iranian protests prompt cash flight
MILLIONS of dollars in private wealth have begun flooding out of Iran after the mass demonstrations that have paralysed commercial life. Fears of new crippling sanctions are also thought to have fuelled the exodus.

Western intelligence agencies have reported that prominent private businesses and wealthy families have moved tens of millions of dollars out of Iranian banks into overseas accounts. The Italian foreign intelligence service is said to have detected multiple transactions, each of up to $US10 million ($12.4 million), by Iran's big four banks on behalf of families seeking a safe haven.
Once the money is out of country, it may be a bit difficult to repatriate. Perhaps President Ahmadenijad ought to invest in some Lebanese forgeries... because it isn't likely a North Korean shipment will be able to dock any time soon.
Iran has already been hit by three rounds of financial sanctions from the United Nations over its nuclear program, which have limited its access to international finance and trade. In Britain, a spokesman for the Treasury hinted that more action could be taken, particularly in relation to Mojbata Khamenei, the son of the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who runs his father's office.

Meanwhile, one of Iran's leading foreign investors, the Austrian oil and gas company OMV, said it would not invest any more in a big offshore gas project and warned that it would pull out if Iran demanded more cash. Helmut Langanger, OMV's Iran representative, said the political environment would have to improve before it put any more money into the South Pars field.

In the US a Republican congressman, Mark Kirk, said there was growing support for a bill he is sponsoring to strip US support from foreign companies supplying refined petroleum to Iran. Iran is a big oil producer but decades of financial isolation mean it must import petrol and other end products.

Reliance, the Indian company, provides a third of Iran's daily needs but also has a massive trade loan from the US.

Another bill that would exclude companies involved in the trade from doing business in the US was put on hold this year as a gesture from President Barack Obama to improve relations.
President Obama must not be pleased that President Ahmadenijad so firmly rejected the open hand of American friendship.

Posted by: 2009-06-27
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=272990