Chinese firm’s partner ‘offered US tech to Iran’

An Iranian partner of Huawei Technologies, a Chinese company that has denied breaking US sanctions, last year tried to sell embargoed American antenna equipment to an Iranian firm, according to documents and interviews.

The buyer — an Iranian mobile-phone operator — says it cancelled the deal with Huawei when it learnt the items were subject to sanctions and before any equipment was delivered. Huawei, the world’s second-largest telecoms equipment maker, uses products from a US company, Andrew, in some of the systems it sells.

Documents show that Soda Gostar Persian Vista, a Tehran-based supplier of Huawei equipment in Iran, had offered to sell to MTN Irancell 36 cellular tower antennas made by Andrew for €14,364. The equipment was to be delivered in Tehran on Feb 3, to “Huawei warehouse ready for installation,” according to a MTN Irancell purchase order dated Nov 30, 2011.