What Embargo? HP Printers Find Their Way to Iran

HP printers have become top-sellers in Tehran, despite a 13-year embargo against US companies doing business with Iran, the Boston Globe reports. An Indian-owned distributor sells HP products in Iran, enabling it to skirt American law. But questions remain: If HP execs cut the deal with Redington Gulf knowing their printers were bound for Iran, that would violate sanctions.

Use of a go-between complicates the issue, an export law specialist said. But in 1999, an HP exec touted Iran as “a big market for Hewlett-Packard printers.” Indeed, the company controls 41% of Iran’s printer market. One salesman noted the “psychological” allure of HP printers: Washington's ban makes them even more desirable to Iranians.
(More Hewlett Packard stories.)