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Iran based clients... Legal in the United States?
pubcrawler
Banned
Does anyone know what the current status of Iran is... If they are on a no trade list for US businesses?
Have an inbound data services inquiry from an Iran based company (no, not VPS, that's not my sector).
Was under the belief (perhaps wrongly) that they are a non-export or trade only with federal government special approval.
Anyone have a clue on this?
Comments
No, if you are a US based business, you may not do business with an Iranian national or business.
It's slightly more complicated than that, but it appears the answer is still no. I am not a lawyer, etc.
http://menalawyer.com/2012/01/15/doing-business-with-iran-limitations-and-permissions/
if you're a US based business you can't do business with any person or business in Iran (and if you're a US based person as of last week you can no longer watch Iranian TV news shows or Iranian film channels on satellite TV in the US because "freedom of the press" and sanctions apparently don't mix)
So if I were selling data services, maybe ummm bandwidth we'll call it and I am in the United States and the buyer is Iranian citizen perhaps here on a visa... but who clearly sells such services to Iranian companies....
Still sounds like it runs afoul ehh?
The US Government doesn't play around when it comes to these sanctions. I would stay far, far away.
http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/Programs/pages/iran.aspx
They might turn their heads to a little Cuban business here and there, but Iran is a soft spot right now and I'd say jail time is a reality.
From http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/Programs/Documents/iran.pdf :
---snip---
---snip---
I think it would definitely be considered afoul but you should check the Treasury Department's sanctions brochure and FAQ to make sure
http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/Programs/pages/iran.aspx
edit: or you could just read the excerpts the sanctions brochure Damian posted while I was typing :P
It does:
It kinda sucks; we've had several prospective clients from Iran that we've had to turn away.
They are already waming up the engine of the partyvan for you...
Man those are some hefty penalties.
I don't see any way a US citizen or company can sell anything to anyone Iranian, legally, without special exemption.
I removed Iran from the countries.php file in WHMCS just to be sure, easiest method (as long as you use MaxMind and tell it to Reject Country Mismatch).
Well sanctions are a tough deal. You can feed an economy without dealing with a government, and sanctions are designed to hit them economically. Not really going into opinions on this, but I understand it.
Well, in this case, the sanctions hit US too. so that some LEB providers might have to lose business.
I would say that in most cases it backfires, as we generally don't do business with someone without a mutual benefit and cutting off our business with them has to impact both ways. I suppose the idea is that we can take the impact and they can't, in an ideal scenario. Whether or not that is actually true or effective, well, I'll save that for a rainy day
How about peering? Do you folks think even if peering was free that it somehow would be allowed under these sanctions?
Peering, I doubt it would be free - but any business with Iran, paid or not = big no go for US businesses, period.
Extreme trade sanctions.
Man I tell you, it's mighty whacky when one of our own is dealing with the "enemy" then.
Don't risk it, I personally have blocked orders from all high-risk countries.
@pubcrawler, walk away ... if you are US based, it is not worth it at ANY price. Read slashdot to get up to speed on all the tinfoil hat government overreach paranoia. :-)
Hell, I've been uneasy about VPSes I have from some providers based in certain countries just based on how their invoices present themselves on Paypal (or by extension, the credit card statement when using Paypal).
Total BS, but totally "1984" all day long.
@RobertJFClarke
Iran isn't a high-risk country. It is suffering from trade sanctions.
Out of curiosity - would it be possible for me (as a non-US citizen) to rent a server in the US and then use it to host Iranians?
You have to be joking @worx.. Iran is definitely a high risk country.
@gsrdgrdghd i believe the EU also has restrictions for selling to Iran. So you might stumble with the German authorities.
Well, if paypal can do business with them...
We get regular questions asking if we allow iranian customers. I am not sure if Italy was forced to follow the american war on terror, from what I know EU does not participate and they had to kidnap people on the street to get to Guantanamo and torture since Italy would have not agreed even in Berlusconi's era, however, on the trade front, I am not sure.
Right now no country is blocked, but if it is illegal, then will change, no matter how crazy the law is, it is still the law.
Anyone knows anything about that ?
That is a great way to setup someone. Who knows where your products are going to end up... If someone buys VPS from US and resells to Iran, will end up in jail even if not american ?
I thought only americans should respect US law, after all, it is their war, not ours.
Yeah like @Liam said, they'll definitely extradite you if you break a US Sanction. Britain was probably happy to hand him over.
I'm quite certain, though not 100%, that the U.N. also has sanctions against Iran. This would mean penalties for anyone in the U.N. dealing with Iran. Although the more strict sanctions, as I understand it, are U.S. executive orders. Regardless, and correct me if I'm wrong, this is an international thing.
I could be getting some things confused in my head. It's not a topic of deep study for me.
UN sanctions are about things related to the supposed nuclear weapons program. It also involves civilian nuclear technology and other technology that has a high chance to be used in an alleged nuclear program.
EU added on that financial and oil/mineral trade bans at US pressure forcing Iran to sell the 20% it was exporting to EU in China and other asian countries together with the rest of the 80% going there.
Regarding payment, since they can use paypal, I dont see a problem there.
I signed a contract with my bank that I can not do business with Iran using that bankaccount. This is in The Netherlands.