A German company that sold parts to Iran that were later used to build rockets announced that it had stopped doing business with the Islamic Republic, Benjamin Weinthal reported in The Jerusalem Post on Thursday.
Rainer Westermann, a spokesman for the Krempel Group, said that as of several months ago, the company “no longer delivers goods to Iran.”
In wake of the news that Krempel had ended its commercial ties to Iran, the U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell said, “Corporations realize that doing business with Iran means funding the IRGC’s terror strategy.” The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is a military force that answers directly to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Weinthal reported that Grenell has been credited with encouraging German companies to end their commercial ties with Tehran.
Krempel, which is based in the southern German city of Stuttgart, had sold electronic press boards to Iranian companies. These press boards are often used in rocket motors.
Following chemical attacks against Syrian civilians earlier this year, press boards bearing Krempel’s logo and marked “Made in Germany” were found among rocket debris at the site of the attacks. At the time, a Krempel spokesman said that the company was “shocked … that its Pressspan PSP-3040 apparently was used in motors that were applied to weapons of war.”
Despite the evidence that its products had been used in a chemical attack, in April the company said that it would continue doing business with Iran.
Krempel, in a statement to the Post at the time, conceded that it continues trading with Iran, but maintained that “Krempel GmbH complies strictly with legal guidelines. In unclear situations, we seek legal advice and apply corresponding measures in order to remain in compliance.”
