S.Africa denies MTN influence on Iran nuclear talks

South Africa denied on
Friday that it had been pressured by MTN Group into
backing Tehran's nuclear programme and aiding its military when
the Johannesburg-based mobile operator was bidding for a
telephone licence in Iran.   



    "South Africa's foreign policy is independent and it cannot
be influenced by anyone," Foreign Ministry spokesman Clayson
Monyela said.   



    South Africa has been reluctant to join Western nations in
imposing sanctions on Iran, but has stopped short of open
support for Tehran. Iran supplies a quarter of South Africa's
crude supply.   



    MTN, Africa's biggest mobile operator, said on Thursday it
was facing a potential lawsuit in a U.S. court from rival
Turkcell over its licence in Iran.    



    MTN said Turkcell was set to say that MTN encouraged South
Africa to take a favourable stance towards Iran's nuclear
development programme.   



    MTN dismissed the allegations as having no legal merit, but
its shares still tumbled 3.7 percent, reflecting investor
concern about its Iranian operation, which accounts for nearly
10 percent of total revenues.    



    The Turkish mobile firm will also accuse MTN of asking
Pretoria to provide military equipment to Iran and bribing
officials of both governments in order to win the licence, MTN
said.   



    Turkcell unsuccessfully bid for the licence that was later
awarded to Irancell, which is 49 percent owned by MTN.   



    Officials for Turkcell were unavailable for comment.   



    MTN is worth $33 billion and is one of South Africa's most
prominent companies. It has operations in 21 countries across
Africa and the Middle East. It has 32 million subscribers in
Iran.