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Iranian-American space entrepreneur accused of aiding Iran

Nader Modanlo co-founded pioneering satellite telecommunications company

AP: Growing up in a provincial town in Iran, Nader Modanlo was fascinated by the flickering TV images of astronauts walking on the moon. As a teenager, he came to the United States, where he earned degrees in aerospace engineering, became a U.S. citizen and co-founded a pioneering satellite telecommunications company that at one point was worth up to $500 million. He seemed on the verge of the kind of success that immigrants dream of achieving. Today, those dreams are burning up like a spacecraft in steep re-entry. Modanlo's company is bankrupt, his U.S. and Iranian passports have been confiscated and a federal judge has ordered him to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet while he sleeps >>>

from Leila K
27-Jun-2011
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Mash Ghasem

Compromising Positions?

by Mash Ghasem on Mon Jun 27, 2011 04:29 PM PDT

For some its dealing aerospace tech with IR. For most others its just being able to visit Iran with no hassle. The element of compromise is inherent in both, with specific consequences for each.

Whoever is still dealing and doing bussines with IR, especially in the past two years, has some serious issues. Wasn't there a corporate campaign against Zimense for its assistance with IR?


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iamfine

Reality-Bites

by iamfine on Mon Jun 27, 2011 04:04 PM PDT

This is how I look at it: If Iran advances in aerospace Technology that doesn't mean all the credit goes to the IRI. The credit goes to all Iranians. At the end of the day, when IRI is gone the technology will stay for the Iranians. Just like the Shah era. He left the technology to the next generation.  

 


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Reality-Bites

bfarahmand

by Reality-Bites on Mon Jun 27, 2011 01:15 PM PDT

How do you know he is regarded as "vatan parast" in the eyes of Iranians?

Put it this way, the guy is accused of doing business with the IRI to make himself richer. Does that qualify as vatan parasti by Iranian people or is that just your personal view?


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iamfine

what is right what is wrong

by iamfine on Mon Jun 27, 2011 12:35 PM PDT

To the eyes of Iranians he is a vatan parest and to the eyes of USA government, he is a vatan froush.


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Jahanshah Javid

About time?

by Jahanshah Javid on Mon Jun 27, 2011 09:42 AM PDT

I interviewed him in 1994 or 1995 at his office near Washington, DC. Sanctions on Iran were tight in the Clinton era, but not as much as today. So even back then I was surprised that Modanlo was able to do business in such a super-sensitive field. It took 15 years to accuse him of wrong doing? Maybe his business was legally by the book but politically unacceptable in the current state of animosity between the two countries. It's the type of politically-charged accusation which makes prosecution much easier.

Who knows...


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