'Doing business with Iran is risky'

Abu Dhabi: Former US intelligence specialists warned on Monday night a group of UAE businessmen and academics that doing business with Iran is risky.

"Fewer and fewer people are doing business with Iran. In fact, there are no international banks that want to cooperate with Tehran," Dr Matthew Levitt, director of counter-terrorism and intelligence at the think tank Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said at a lecture.

Levitt served as deputy assistant secretary for intelligence and analysis at the US Department of the Treasury and was in Abu Dhabi to deliver a lecture at the Emirates Centre for Strategic Studies and Research.

"You know the (Iran) threat better than me. I don't need to come here as an American and tell you that... Iran had a nine-digit finance account for terrorists... Iran messes around with financial systems." Levitt continued to provided information on why Iran should not be trusted. But much of the audience challenged his audacity to come to the UAE, a major trading partner with Iran, to convince businesses to stay away from Iran.

"This will not end Iran's weapons of mass destruction programme. Does it have an effect? Absolutely. It will slow it down,"

In the lecture, titled The Role of Financial Tools in the Diplomatic Approach to the Iranian Nuclear Solution, Levitt insisted that crippling Iran's terrorist funding and persuading businesses to stay clear of Tehran will be a major bargaining point in convincing Iran to come clean with its nuclear ambitions.

"If Iran gets a nuclear programme, other countries in the region will race to do the same," he added. Questions from the audience pressed him for neglecting to mention that Israel has had WMDs for decades.

Levitt asserted, "We only have 18-24 months gap, I believe, before it's too late. That's why this is really important to not get to that point... Targeting financial measures are not signalling war but a sign of signalling that we want to resolve this without war," Levitt said.

Refusing to acknowledge Iran's energy crunch, Levitt said, "There are only two other countries with as much proven oil reserves as Iran. All they have to do is to tap into their reserves." Alongside Levitt, Dr Michael Jacobson, a fellow at the institute, explained how terror financing works and how inexpensive terrorist operations are.