Many firms break Iran sanctions

Almost 300 British companies have breached trade sanctions against Iran.

Treasury figures showed the number caught trying to sell goods to the country, whose ruling regime has been accused of trying to build a nuclear bomb, has nearly doubled in five years.

A total of 297 firms were in breach of European Union rules banning the sale of certain products to Iran between 2007 and the start of this month.

Five years ago, 44 companies breached strict UK controls on exporting products to Iran, but the figure has already hit 84 so far this year. Treasury minister David Gauke said: “More than 95 per cent of the breaches were detected at the UK border and HM Revenue and Customs or Border Force officers successfully intercepted the goods.”