(This story ran on the World News Trust site Aug. 6, 2005. It is far and away the most popular story we have ever run, with several thousand readers. We continue to get hits on the story every day from web sites around the world that linked to the story. I'm posting it here again for those DUers who may be interested. --Tace)
Halliburton Sold Iranian Oil Company Key Nuclear Reactor Components, Sources Say
By Jason Leopold -- World News Trust
Scandal-plagued Halliburton -- the oil services company once headed by Vice President Cheney -- sold an Iranian oil development company key components for a nuclear reactor, say Halliburton sources with intimate knowledge into both companies’ business dealings.
Halliburton was secretly working at the time with one of Iran’s top nuclear program officials on natural gas related projects and sold the components in April to the official's oil development company, the sources said.
Just last week, a National Security Council report said Iran was a decade away from acquiring a nuclear bomb. That time frame could arguably have been significantly longer if Halliburton, whose miltary unit just reported a 284 percent increase in its second quarter profits due to its Iraq reconstruction contracts, was not actively providing the Iranian government with the means to build a nuclear weapon.
With Iran's new hardline government now firmly in place, Iranian officials have rounded up relatives and close business associates of Iran's former President and defeated mullah presidential candidate Hashemi Rafsanjani, alleging the men were involved in widespread corruption of Iran's oil industry, specifically tied to the country's business dealings with Halliburton.
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http://worldnewstrust.org/modules/AMS/article.php?storyid=919