Senators call for sanctions against contractors doing business with Iran

05-12-2010 • Robert Brodsky

At least seven foreign companies doing business in Iran's energy sector also have won U.S. government contracts during the past five years, according to new findings released on Wednesday by the Government Accountability Office.

From 2005 to 2009, the Defense Department awarded those seven firms -- including ENI, Italy's largest industrial company, and Hyundai Heavy Industries, a South Korean corporation that ranks as the world's largest shipbuilder -- almost $880 million in contracts, the report said.

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Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said firms doing business with Iran need to make a choice about their business partners. "Either do business with Iran's $250 billion per year economy or do business with America's $13 trillion economy, including our government," he said. "But, you can't do business with both."

The New York Times recently performed its own analysis and found that during the past decade, more than $107 billion in federal contracts and grants have been awarded to 74 companies that have done business with Iran.

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