Despite conflict, U.S. does business with Iran

Neither the Treasury data nor trade data compiled by the Census Bureau identify exporters or specify what they shipped. The AP requested those details under the Freedom of Information Act in 2005 and still is waiting for the Treasury Department to provide them.

Though some trade with Iran is legal, some businesses prefer that people not know about it.

Citing corporate financial reports, the SEC published a list online last year of companies that said they had done business in Iran or four other countries the State Department considers state sponsors of terrorism. The SEC withdrew the list after business groups complained but is considering releasing one again.

“There’s no question that people are looking for that kind of information,” SEC spokesman John Nester said. “But under the current disclosure regime, it’s beyond most people’s abilities and time to slog through every corporate report and find companies that make reference to one of those nations.”

Business groups oppose publishing such lists. It “could inappropriately label companies with legitimate activities as supporters of terrorism,” the European Association of Listed Companies told the commission earlier this year.

An AP photographer strolling through shops in Tehran had no problem finding American brands on the shelves. An AP review of corporate SEC filings found dozens of companies that have done business in Iran in recent years or said their products or services may have made it there through other channels. Some are household names: PepsiCo, Tyson Foods, Canon, BP Amoco, Exxon Mobil, GE Healthcare, the Wells Fargo financial services company, Visa, Mastercard and the Cadbury Schweppes candy and beverage maker.

Georgia led states in exports to Iran over the past seven years, with cigarettes representing $154 million of the $201 million in goods it exported there. Cigarette shipments to Iran peaked in 2006, apparently from a Brown & Williamson cigarette factory in Macon, Ga.

When the plant closed, tobacco shipments to Iran fell dramatically. No U.S. tobacco shipments to Iran were reported for 2007 or the first quarter of this year, the most recent figures available.

British American Tobacco began operating in Iran in 2002, producing most of its cigarettes under a contract with the Iranian tobacco monopoly, company spokesman David Betteridge said. B.A.T. shipped Kent cigarettes from the United States to Iran until 2006, he said.

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