Johannesburg - The West's increasing pressure on Iran has
meant scrutiny for South African businesses that operate in the Middle Eastern
nation accused of having nuclear ambitions.
South African-Iranian political ties have long been close,
and that has meant close business ties.
A politically connected South African telecommunications
company has been accused of pushing Pretoria to support Iran's nuclear power
program.
A South African energy and chemicals company is reviewing
its Iranian investments. Iranian oil makes up nearly a third of South Africa's
oil imports.
Iran denies charges from the United States and its allies
that it is trying to produce an atomic weapon and says its nuclear programmes are
for energy and other peaceful needs.
South Africa, the only nation in the world to have
voluntarily surrendered a nuclear weapons program, says all nations should have
the right to exploit atomic energy's peaceful potential.
South Africa has uranium reserves and its own nuclear power
programme.
Foreign affairs department spokesperson Clayson Monyela said
this week that South Africa has told Iran that it is ready to help any country
that wants to follow its lead and give up nuclear weapons.
South Africa began disarming in the waning years of
apartheid in the early 1990s, and has submitted itself to International Atomic
Energy Agency verification that it dismantled its nuclear weapons.
Thomas Wheeler, a retired South African diplomat, said
Iran's "problems would go away" if, as South Africa did, it allowed
the international agency full access.
Instead, Iranians "create the suspicion that they're up
to something," said Wheeler, who now works for the independent South
African Institute of International Affairs.
Wheeler said South African-Iranian ties are close, but
complicated.
He said Iran supported the ANC when it was an anti-apartheid
movement, but also supplied oil to the white minority government both before
and after the shah's fall.
On Monday, trying to pressure Iran to divert from what the
West sees as a drive toward a nuclear bomb, the United States gave US banks
additional powers to freeze assets linked to the Iranian government and close
loopholes that officials say Iran has used to move money despite earlier
restrictions imposed by the US and Europe.
In January, the European Union announced it would ban
Iranian crude oil imports starting in July. The US doesn't buy oil from Iran.
Monyela, of the South African foreign affairs department,
said that so far, Western moves against Iran have not affected South African
policy.
But he did not rule out a possible shift.
South Africa has often expressed concerns that the West is
hiding its true intentions when it calls for steps against a developing
country. South Africa has complained, for example, that a UN resolution calling
for protecting civilians in Libya was misused.
South Africa supported the resolution, then argued that a
NATO bombing campaign that followed amounted to an illegal, violent attempt at
regime change.
While diplomats may be slow to act for political reasons,
South African business may have little room to maneuver.
The US move on banks could make it hard to pay Iran for its
oil. And having close business ties with Iran might make it hard to do business
in the US and Europe.
Last week, Sasol [JSE:SOL], a major South African energy and
chemicals company, said it was reconsidering its business ties. Sasol added
that Iran supplies it about 12 000 barrels a day of crude.
"In view of recent developments regarding trade
restrictions and possible oil sanctions against Iran, Sasol Oil is diversifying
its crude oil sourcing, to mitigate risks associated with oil supply
disruptions from the Middle East," Sasol said.
Another major South African company, MTN [JSE:MTN], owns 49%
of the Iranian mobile company Irancell.
A Turkish company that was an unsuccessful bidder for a
telecommunications license in Iran has hinted it will challenge the MTN deal by
arguing in US courts that MTN bribed an Iranian and a South African government
official, and encouraged South Africa to support Iran's nuclear power
development programme at a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Politics are likely to continue to effect business.
Last month, South African foreign affairs minister Maite
Nkoana-Mashabane told reporters the way forward was for the international
community to ensure weapons inspectors were able to do their jobs and to
campaign for the peaceful use of nuclear power, "not just to target Iran
as a country."