Fiat suspends all commercial relations with Iran

Italian automaker Fiat SpA and its sister company Fiat Industrial SpA have announced that the company has stopped doing business in Iran in line with a trade embargo imposed by the United States and other countries in the West. Fiat exports cars to Iran, while Fiat Industrial exports buses and trucks under its Iveco brand to Iran. 

"Fiat announces that effective immediately its subsidiaries will no longer carry out business activity related to products or components where the ultimate destination of such products is known to be Iran, other than to the limited extent required to fulfill already existing obligations." the company said in a statement. 

Iran's nuclear program has been cited as one of the many reasons cited by Western countries for passing a raft of sanctions regimes that have crippled the Iranian economy. 

The latest attempt to persuade Iran to compromise and let U.N. experts view its nuclear program ended inconclusively Thursday at a meeting in Baghdad. At the talks, six nations — the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany — failed to persuade Tehran to freeze its 20 percent enrichment. The talks ended with both sides agreeing on one thing - to continue discussions next month in Moscow.

United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), a U.S-based pressure group has been leading a spirited campaign against Iran and has been toughening sanctions on the Islamic Republic, including on its main cash cow -oil, because of fears that Iran plans to build nuclear weapons. On the other hand, Iran says its nuclear program is peaceful.  

The auto industry has been under pressure from the anti-nuclear lobby group, UANI to cut off business dealings with Iran. With this move, Fiat has now followed the footsteps of PSA Peugeot Citroen, General Motors, Hyundai and Porsche.