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Washington: US exports to Iran grew more than tenfold during President George W. Bush's years in office even as he accused Iran of nuclear ambitions and helping terrorists. America sent more cigarettes to Iran under Bush - at least $158 million (Dh581 million) worth - than any other products.
Other surprising shipments to Iran during the Bush administration: cosmetics, fur clothing, sculptures, perfume, musical instruments. Top states shipping goods to Iran include California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio and Wisconsin, according to an analysis by The Associated Press of seven years of US government trade data.
That list includes some solidly conservative Republican states where Bush's assertive foreign policy has been highly popular.
Despite increasingly tough rhetoric toward Iran, which Bush has called part of an 'axis of evil', US trade in a range of goods survives on-again, off-again sanctions originally imposed nearly three decades ago. The rules allow sales of agricultural commodities, medicine and a few other categories of goods. The exemptions are designed to help Iranian families even as the US pressures Iran's leaders.
Target
"Our sanctions are targeted against the regime, not the people," said Adam Szubin, director of the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, which enforces the sanctions. The government tracks exports to Iran using details from shipping records, but in some cases it is unclear whether anyone pays attention.
Sanctions are intended in part to frustrate Iran's efforts to build its military, but the US government's own figures show at least $148,000 worth of unspecified weapons and other military gear were exported from the US to Iran during Bush's time in office. That includes $106,635 in military rifles and $8,760 in rifle parts and accessories shipped in 2004, the data show.
Also shipped to Iran were at least $13,000 in "aircraft launching gear and/or deck arrestors," equipment needed to launch and recover jets on aircraft carriers, according to US records. Iran's navy is not believed to own or operate any carriers.
Those numbers seem small, but military items can sell for pennies on the dollar compared with what the Pentagon paid.
Last year, federal agents seized four F-14 fighter jets sold to domestic buyers by an officer at a California naval air station for $2,000 to $4,000 each, with proceeds benefitting a squadron recreation fund. When F-14s were new, they cost roughly $38 million each.
Szubin said it was unlikely that exports of military gear occurred, but the government was looking into it to be certain after the AP raised questions. He said shipping records are subject to human error, such as citing wrong commodity codes or recording 'Iran' as the destination rather than 'Iraq'. The Treasury Department said on Monday it was still checking to see whether it could offer an explanation.
"That's something that would obviously concern us greatly and concern the whole administration," Szubin said in an interview. "We have called colleagues in other government agencies, and they're looking very carefully into it."
This year Bush signed legislation to prohibit the Pentagon from selling leftover F-14 parts. The law was prompted by AP's reports that buyers for Iran, China and other countries exploited Pentagon surplus sales to obtain sensitive military equipment that included parts for F-14 'Tomcats' and other aircraft and missile components.
Two men were indicted in Florida last week on charges they shipped US military aircraft parts to Iran including Tomcat and attack-helicopter parts.
Iran received at least $620,000 in aircraft parts and $19,600 worth of aircraft during Bush's terms. Iran relies on spare parts from other countries to keep its commercial and military aircraft flying. In some cases, US sanctions allow shipments of aircraft parts for safety upgrades for Iran's commercial passenger jets.
The government seems unco-ordinated on efforts to limit trade with Iran.
The Securities and Exchange Commission sought to shine a light on companies active in Iran but stopped after business groups complained. The Treasury Department allowed some companies and individuals suspected of illegal trading with Iran to escape punishment. Yet the Bush administration also has collected millions of dollars in fines from trade-rule violators and pressed Congress without success to pass laws to strengthen enforcement.
That the United States sells anything to Iran is news to some.
"Until you just told me that about Iran I'm not sure I knew we did any business with Iran," said Fred Wetherington, a tobacco grower in Hahira, Georgia, the chairman of Georgia's tobacco commission. "I thought because of the situation between our two governments, I didn't think we traded with them at all, so I certainly didn't know they were getting any cigarettes." The US sent Iran $546 million in goods from 2001 through last year, government figures show.
It exported roughly $146 million worth last year, compared with $8.3 million in 2001, Bush's first year in office. Even adjusted for inflation, that is more than a tenfold increase.
Politically loaded
Exports to Iran are a politically loaded but tiny part of US trade. The US counted more than $1 trillion in world exports last year. The value of US shipments last year to Canada, America's top trading partner, was more than 1,000 times higher than to Iran.
Top US exports to Iran over Bush's years in office include corn ($68 million), chemical wood pulp, soda or sulphate ($64 million), soybeans ($43 million), medical equipment ($27 million), vitamins ($18 million), bull semen ($12.6 million), and vegetable seeds ($12 million), according to the AP's analysis of government trade data compiled by the World Institute for Strategic Economic Research in Massachusetts.
The value of cigarettes sold to Iran was more than twice that of the second-largest category on the export list, vaccines, serums and blood products, $73 million.
Also getting Bush administration approval for export to Iran were at least $101,000 worth of bras, $175,000 in sculptures, nearly $96,000 worth of cosmetics, $8,900 in perfume, $30,000 in musical instruments and parts, $21,000 in golf carts and-or snowmobiles, $4,000 worth of movie film and $3,300 in fur clothing.
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