Halliburton said today it has completed all work in Iran and has left the country, making good on an earlier pledge to exit the Middle Eastern state once it served out its last contracts there.
The announcement comes more than two years after Halliburton said it would leave Iran, a member of what President Bush has called the "Axis of Evil'' for fostering terrorism around the world.
The world's second-largest oil-field services firm behind Schlumberger said in January 2005 it would accept no new business in the country and would stay only to honor existing contracts.
In a statement today, Halliburton defended its dealings in Iran as "clearly permissible under applicable laws and regulations.''
Federal law prohibits U.S. companies from trading directly with Iran because of ties to terrorist organizations. But foreign units of American firms can operate there, as long as the foreign entity is truly independent of the U.S. business.
Halliburton conducted its Iranian business through a foreign subsidiary known as Halliburton Products & Services Ltd. It is a Cayman Islands-registered company headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Halliburton's announcement last month that it would open a corporate headquarters in Dubai and relocate CEO Dave Lesar there from Houston fueled speculation that the company was quietly trying to expand its business in Iran. But the company's move to pull out of Iran may quell those fears.
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