Publicly, US officials insisted that Amir Sairafi, a high profile Iranian trader in Dubai, was a major member of an illegal nuclear smuggling ring working for the Iranian government. Those accusations were repeated far and wide, until he got to court. Once he arrived in a US courtroom, the allegations ceased and he was simply accused of violating the US trading ban. Sairafi says he never had ties with the Iranian government and he believes the effort was entirely for show, an effort to discourage non-Americans from doing any business with Iran.
Nuclear Accusations Against Iranian Trader End at the Courthouse Door
Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.
Join the Discussion!
We welcome thoughtful and respectful comments. Hateful language, illegal content, or attacks against Antiwar.com will be removed.
For more details, please see our Comment Policy.
