How HP Sells to Iran

Trade between the U.S. and Iran is banned, yet California-based Hewlett Packard is a big seller there. How do they do that? They use middlemen.

In 1997, two years after President Clinton banned trade with Iran, HP struck a partnership with a newly formed company in Dubai to sell its products in the Middle East. At the time, the company, called Redington Gulf, had only three employees and its sole purpose was to "sell HP supplies to the Iran market," says a history on Redington Gulf's website and Rajesh Chandragiri, the administrative manager in Redington Gulf's Dubai office.