Caterpillar, the US building equipment group, has become the latest company to bow to a lobbyists’ “name and shame” campaign by announcing steps to sever trading links with Iran.  The company said it would bar its non-US subsidiaries from accepting orders for products that they knew were destined for delivery to Iran.

The New York-based United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), which spearheaded a campaign against the Illinois company, greeted the announcement as its second victory in a month after Huntsman, the Texas chemicals manufacturer, announced in January that its foreign subsidiaries would suspend sales to Iran in view of the “reputational risk” posed to the company.

As western pressure mounts at the UN for a new round of global sanctions against Tehran over its nuclear programme, UANI and other lobbyists have targeted 200 US and foreign companies whose business with Iran is currently legal under US and international law. Companies have faced write-in campaigns and threats of divestment if they did not change their practices.

Lobbyists have also been active in drafting US legislation that would oblige Barack Obama, US president, to act against foreign companies, in spite of warnings from the state department against restricting the president’s diplomatic flexibility in seeking broad international consensus in dealing with Iran.

While the lobbyists have close connections with figures in the Obama administration and the Republican party, peace and human rights groups maintain that some campaigns act as a front for foreign policy hawks seeking to pursue a strategy of confrontation.