Six US lawmakers have asked the State Department to investigate whether Chinese telecommunications-equipment maker Huawei Technologies has violated US sanctions on Iran. The members of Congress called on the department to "expeditiously investigate" whether Huawei violated US sanctions passed by Congress in 2010 by providing technology to government-controlled telecom operators that "has been used to restrict the speech of the Iranian people and the free flow of unbiased information in Iran". The law prohibits the federal government from contracting with companies that export to Iran technology that can be used to disrupt, monitor or restrict free speech. The request came in a letter sent to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on 22 December, the Wall Street Journal reports. The letter cites a front-page article by the newspaper in October that documented how Huawei's business grew in Iran following a pullback by Western companies after the government's crackdown in 2009. The article reported, among other things, that Huawei made a pitch last year to Iranian government officials to sell equipment for a mobile news service on Iran's second-largest mobile-phone operator, MTN Irancell. According to a person who attended the meeting, Huawei representatives emphasized that, being from China, they had expertise censoring the news. Huawei won the contract. Huawei also has provided support for technology that can allow the government to track the location of people through their phones, the WSJ reported. A Huawei spokesman said the company complied with all local and international laws, including in the US, and called the allegations "inaccurate" and "groundless." The company also pointed to its announcement last month that it would scale back its business in Iran.
