Huawei’s Work in Iran Should Be Investigated, U.S. Lawmakers Say

The State Department should investigate whether Huawei Technologies Co. and other telecommunications companies broke the law by supplying sensitive technology to Iran, six lawmakers said.

Huawei, China’s largest maker of phone equipment, said Dec. 9 it would voluntarily restrict business in Iran because of that country’s “increasingly complex situation.” The Shenzhen, China-based company said it wouldn’t seek new customers in Iran and will limit the scope of business with existing clients. While calling Huawei’s decision on Iran a “positive step,” the lawmakers in a Dec. 22 letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the company’s “previous actions and continuing service of existing contracts with Iranian clients may violate” an Iran sanctions law passed in 2010. Representative Sue Myrick, a North Carolina Republican, released the letter; it was also signed by Sens John Kyl (R-AZ), Jeff Sessions (R-AL), James Inhofe (R-OK), and Sheldon Whitehouse (R-RI), and Rep Frank Wolf (R-VA). The law, the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability and Divestment Act, prohibits the U.S. government from “entering into or renewing a contract with a company that exports sensitive telecommunications technology to Iran,” the lawmakers wrote.