Herrenknecht

March 2016, HerrenkenchtHerrenknecht “talked openly about operations and his hope to maintain them despite growing political uncertainty.......  ‘You’ll laugh, but two of our machines have been operating in Tehran for the last 12 years to build a metro system.  The contract dates back to before the sanctions,’ said Martin Herrenkencht.”Herrenknecht.”  (Handelsblatt, “Drilling Down to the Essence,” 3/14/2016).  (https://global.handelsblatt.com/edition/388/ressort/companies-markets/article/drilling-down-to-the-essence)

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Herrenknecht AG is listed as a participant at the 2017 Iran Oil Show that took place in Tehran, Iran. (http://www.iranoilshow.german-pavilion.com/content/en/exhibitors/exhibitors_detail.php?exhibitor_id=65102)

"As the Iran embargo looks likely to be lifted after negotiations between Western countries and Teheran on Iran's nuclear program seem set to achieve a settlement, German firms, in particular, are eager to breathe new life into their traditional business ties with the country. Currently, German exports to Iran amount to about 2.4 billion euros ($2.6 billion) - less than half what they were ten years ago, when sanctions were imposed. According to the German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK), that figure could easily multiply to a sum in the double-digit billions once sanctions will be lifted. At a conference in Frankfurt organized by the German Near and Middle East Association (NUMOV), about 250 German business leaders explored opportunities likely to open up in Iran in the near future. The one-day event on Tuesday, called 'Doing Business in Iran,' primarily dealt with the Iranian oil and gas industry, but also cast a light on the renewable energy and finance sectors... Martin Herrenknecht, owner of a German tunnel-boring machine manufacturer, expects tough competition from Asian rivals once his company re-enters the Iranian market after sanctions are lifted... In the years before sanctions were imposed on Iran, Herrenknecht's firm sold equipment worth between 10 million euros ($11.5 million) and 15 million euros annually to Iran. He hopes to re-launch his Iranian business fairly quickly as he wants to benefit from Teheran's plans to build a new subway line in the country's capital, as well as a new high-speed train ---connection and improvements to the national water and sewage systems." (DW, "German business looks to post-sanctions Iran boom," 5/19/15) (http://www.dw.de/german-business-looks-to-post-sanctions-iran-boom/a-18462208)

Herrenknecht Chairman Martin Herrenknecht “recently visited Tehran, meeting officials in the energy ministry and sewage department.  Before Western sanctions hit, Herrenknecht, which carries its 72-year-old founder's name, did 10 million to 15 million euros ($11 million-$17 million) of business a year in Iran.).  He said, 'I know what projects are coming and I'mI’m ready to sign when the sanctions are lifted.'"   (Reuters, “German Exporters Eye Lucrative Deals in Post-Sanctions Iran,” 7/5/15).   (http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/05/us-iran-nuclear-germany-business-idUSKCN0PF0QU20150705?feedType=RSS&feedName=Iran&virtualBrandChannel=10209&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&dlvrit=59365)

"Germany’s multi-billion euro bilateral trade relationship with Iran continues unabated, even as evidence mounts that the Islamic Republic is determined to build a nuclear weapons capability. The Jerusalem Post has obtained an uncensored list from late 2011, showing hundreds of German and Iranian enterprises in a flourishing trade relationship . . . One company named is Baden-Württemberg-based engineering giant Herrenknecht AG, which appears to be delivering heavy tunneling equipment to Iran – some of which is promoted as having the capability of 'drilling down to depths of 6,000 meters.' In response to Post inquiries, an unidentified representative of the company wrote via email on Friday that it has 'comprehensively ensured that Herrenknecht excavation engineering and services solely reach projects which clearly pursue civil applications [metro tunnel construction, sewage pipes and water supply lines]' . . . Though EU sanctions have been in place since 2010 to bar oil and gas technology trade with the Islamic Republic, Herrenknecht participated in Iran’s most important oil trade show in 2012. To participate in the Iran oil show, companies are required to send their registration fees to Bank Mellat – which the EU and US had sanctioned due to its involvement in nuclear proliferation." (Jerusalem Post, "German firms still ship dual-use goods to Iran Jerusalem," 7/9/12) (http://www.jpost.com/IranianThreat/News/Article.aspx?id=276737)

Over the past decade, Iran has quietly hidden an increasingly large part of its atomic complex in networks of tunnels and bunkers across the country... Such tunneling conferences, held regularly in Tehran, draw global manufacturers of tunnel-boring machines — giant devices as big as locomotives that dig quickly through rocky strata... Many of the companies keep offices in Tehran. Herrenknecht, a German firm considered the market leader, lists three. Engineers say Iran has hundreds of miles of civilian tunneling projects under way, including subways in Tehran, Isfahan, and Shiraz, highway tunnels across the country and water tunnels to irrigate the dry interior. (The New York Times, "Iran Shielding Its Nuclear Efforts in a Maze of Tunnels," 1/6/09) (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/06/world/middleeast/06sanctions.html?hp=&pagewanted=all)

"Tunnel builder Herrenknecht waived Iran business. We are relinquishing a deal with a contract of around 20 million euros…if the company had made the deal, we would have been exposed to the risk of being blistered.” (8/9/2018) (https://www.wiwo.de/unternehmen/industrie/folge-der-us-sanktionen-herrenknecht-zieht-sich-aus-iran-zurueck/22895446.html)

On its company website, Herrenknecht lists that it has three offices in Tehran, Iran. (Company Website) (http://www.herrenknecht.com/herrenknecht-ag-en/herrenknecht-worldwide.html?id=508&tx_hkaddress_pi1[search]=iran&x=0&y=0)