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Austria's OMV refineries in Schwechat near Vienna.
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VIENNA/NEW YORK (EJP)---The World Jewish Congress asked shareholders of Austrian oil and gas giant OMV Monday to pressure the group to suspend planned deals with Iran until it cooperates with the UN over its nuclear programme.
"It is wrong for any Western company to sign business deals of such a magnitude with the regime in Tehran," WJC President Ronald Lauder, a former US ambassador to Austria, said in a statement.
"The Iranian regime is openly defiant of the UN sanctions imposed against it. It threatens Israel with annihilation and sponsors terrorist groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah," he said.
Lauder added: "Because of its recent history, Austria has a moral responsibility to fight the Iranian threat. As the biggest shareholder, the government should bring its influence to bear on OMV. Like in Switzerland, politicians err if they believe that the economic interests are more important than the threat posed by Iran."
The Austrian government still controls over 30 per cent of the shares in OMV, the largest listed company in Austria and Central Europe's leading oil and gas corporation.
Lauder called on the Austrian government to put pressure on the group.
Referring to Israel's 60th anniversary, Lauder said: "OMV shareholders will meet for the Annual General Meeting in Vienna on 14 May, on the day sixty years after the independence of Israel, a country that Iran's President Ahmadinejad wants to wipe off the map. Let's hope that OMV decides to pursue alternative options instead of giving Iran the international recognition they so desperately seek."
OMV has been exploring oil fields in southwest Iran since 2001 and last year signed a letter of intent with Iranian companies to develop one in the Gulf and in April it signed a deal with Tehran to build a plant for liquefied natural gas, reportedly Iran's biggest such contract with Europe valued at up to US 30 billion dollars over 25 years.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and US President George W. Bush recently announced a push for the inclusion of liquefied natural gas in the list of UN sanctions should Iran continue to ignore the demands by the UN Security Council.
The UN Security Council has already imposed three sets of sanctions against Tehran for its refusal to suspend sensitive uranium enrichment operations, which the West fears could be used to make a nuclear weapon.
