BBC NEWS
30 September 2010
Four major energy companies are pulling out of Iran in order to comply with US sanctions, the state department says.
Royal Dutch Shell, Total, Statoil and Italy ENI will now avoid US penalties targeting companies which do business with Iran.
Naftiran Intertrade Co, based in Switzerland, will face new sanctions .
The US has tightened sanctions on Iran over concerns about its nuclear ambitions, which Washington fears are aimed at acquiring atomic weapons.
Tehran insists its nuclear programme is for purely peaceful purposes.
‘Conduit for cash’
Recent legislation gives the US administration the power to penalise foreign companies which invest more than $20m ($12.7m) in Iran’s energy sector.
However, companies taking steps to comply with the law are exempted from penalties.
“People are increasingly reaching the conclusion that it’s simply not worth it to engage in activities with Iran,” Deputy US Secretary of State James Steinberg was quoted as saying by Reuters news agency.
Other energy companies are under investigation for possibly breaching sanctions, but the state department has declined to name them.
Mr Steinberg described Naftiran – a subsidiary of the National Iranian Oil Company – as a key conduit for cash into the Iranian oil industry.
In practice, US companies are already prohibited from doing most forms of business with Naftiran. But US officials say the extra sanctions will dissuade non-US companies from doing business with it.
This latest announcement comes a day after the US froze the US assets of eight senior Iranian officials accused of serious human rights abuses following the disputed presidential election in June 2009. They will also barred from travelling to the US and from doing business with companies there.
This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
