Since American Companies Can't Do Business in Iran, Why is Cheney's Halliburton Busy at Work in Iran?

This is another humdinger presented by Cernig's Newshog (it's not news to me, but I was not aware NBC News was onto it, since I usually only see this mentioned in more alternative news outlets). It also reminds me of how, just before Cheney picked himself to be Bush's VP for the 2000 presidential race, Cheney as CEO of Halliburton appeared before the U.S. Senate to insist they end sanctions against Iraq since it was clear Iraq was no longer the bad guy (yet, as soon as Bush and Cheney got in office, they looked for reasons to attack Saddam Hussein and Iraq).

NBC's Investigative Unit has video of a Halliburton drilling operation with Halliburton logos everywhere - but it's in Iran, where the company gained a contract in January to drill in the massive Pars gas field.

"I am baffled that any American company would want to have employees operating in Iran," says Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine. "I would think they'd be ashamed."

Halliburton says the operation — videotaped by NBC News — is entirely legal. It's run by a subsidiary called "Halliburton Products and Services Limited," based outside the U.S. In fact, the law allows foreign subsidiaries of U.S. corporations to do business in Iran under strict conditions.

[...]Sources close to the Halliburton investigation tell NBC News that after that announcement, Halliburton decided that business with Iran, then conducted through at least five companies, would all be done through a subsidiary incorporated in the Cayman Islands.

"It's gotten around the sanctions and the very spirit and reasons for the sanctions," says Victor Comras, a former State Department expert on sanctions.

For Halliburton to have done this legally, the foreign subsidiary operating in Iran must be independent of the main operation in Texas. Yet, when an NBC producer approached managers in Iran, he was sent to company officials in Dubai. But they said only Halliburton headquarters in Houston could talk about operations in Iran. Still, Halliburton maintains its Iran subsidiary does make independent business decisions.

Now Halliburton is under federal investigation - the focus being on whether it was their intention all along to evade sanctions. Congress is looking at closing the loophole in the law.

[...]But I've a question - if their old boss Dick Cheney manages to get his way and the US attacks Iran, would Halliburton get government compensation for it's destroyed equipment and potential profits? If not, then maybe they know for sure something the rest of us can only wonder about concerning the likelihood of such an attack.