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   Analysts in New York, London, Hong Kong Now Tracking and Monitoring Iran`sVessel Fleet 24/7[Click here to learn more about MINERVA, and view examples of illicit Iranianshipping schemes.]NEW YORK--(Business Wire)--Today, United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) announced the launch of its MaritimeIntelligence Network and Rogue Vessel Analysis (MINERVA) system. MINERVA is anew UANI initiative that tracks Iranian vessels and identifies and exposes theIranian regime's efforts to smuggle oil and cargo in circumvention ofinternational sanctions. Through MINERVA, UANI conducts 24-hour real-time tracking and course predictionof Iranian and Iran-related vessels, including clandestine vessels, anywhere inthe world. MINERVA analysts are located in New York, London and Hong Kong,allowing for around-the-clock monitoring. MINERVA is able to detect nefariousIranian shipping activities as they occur, and UANI in turn notifies relevantauthorities of illicit actions occurring in their jurisdictions. MINERVA collects, processes, and analyzes raw vessel data such as speed,heading, identity, draught, and destination information. The system thencorrelates this shipping data with supplementary data from maritime industrysources, and employs algorithmic analysis to create distinct vessel and shippingroute profiles and predict the courses and destinations of otherwiseundetectable vessels of the Iranian regime. MINERVA is the next phase of UANI`s Shipping Campaign. The campaign has resultedin dozens of shipping and maritime-related companies including all thirteen ofthe world`s major classification societies, multiple shipping lines, andnumerous countries ending their provision of services to the Iranian shippingindustry. UANI developed MINERVA in response to the Iranian regime`s increasing efforts tomake vessels "dark," and avoid being detected by traditional vessel-trackingsystems. For example, vessels of Iran`s National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC)and Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) are now regularly disablingtheir on-board location-transmissions systems, or "spoofing" their locations,destinations, and/or identities by inputting false identifying information. MINERVA`s unique capabilities allow UANI to monitor such vessels, and takerelevant action to halt illegal Iran-sponsored shipping schemes. Said UANI CEO, Ambassador Mark D. Wallace: Iran`s smuggling schemes thrive on deception and disguise. Our analysts are nowon watch, 24 hours a day, to uncover the clandestine activities of Iranianvessels and identify the regime`s unscrupulous partners in the internationalshipping industry. When the regime`s smuggling schemes are identified and exposed, maritime andport authorities can no longer deny knowledge of the origins of illicit Iranianvessels, shipments, and cargoes in their respective jurisdictions. The momentIran`s shipping schemes are brought to light is the same moment maritime andport authorities begin to turn the vessels away. UANI has long highlighted the shipping industry as an area where theinternational community can further pressure Iran. In a 2012 Wall Street JournalOp-Ed, six UANI board members wrote that "the world must deny Iran's access tointernational shipping, a move that would severely affect the regime given itsdependence on global trade and seaborne crude oil exports." Last year, all thirteen of the world`s major classification societies stoppedcertifying Iranian vessels following UANI`s campaign, including Bureau Veritas,Germanischer Lloyd, the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping, Korean Registerof Shipping, China Classification Society, and ClassNK. UANI has also announcedthat Barbados, Hong Kong, Moldova and Mongolia have stopped their reflagging ofIranian vessels. Click here to learn more about MINERVA, and view examples of illicit Iranianshipping schemes.Click here to learn more about UANI`s Shipping Campaign.  United Against Nuclear IranNathan Carleton, 212-554-3296press@uani.comCopyright Business Wire 2013