Amazon discloses purchases by Iranians subject to sanctions

An Amazon.com internal investigation determined that its online retail business has sold and delivered about $100,000 worth of products to Iranian customers subject to U.S. government sanctions.

The orders were processed and delivered between January 2013 and March 2016, Amazon disclosed in a quarterly earnings document filed Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Purchases of about $20,000 in consumer products were made by Iranian embassies in Japan, Germany, France, Spain, Austria and China, as well as an Iranian government delegation in France. Additionally, people suspected of acting on behalf of those embassies bought $81,000 worth of consumer products, including books, music, home and kitchen items and car parts.

One person the U.S. put on a list of proliferators of weapons of mass destruction and supporters whose assets should be frozen was also an Amazon fan, spending about $900 in consumer products.

“We do not plan to continue selling to these accounts in the future,” Amazon said.

Amazon is not the only Pacific Northwest retailer favored by Iranian diplomats: in 2013, a year after the U.S. tightened sanctions against Iran, the company canceled two business memberships held by the Iranian embassy in Tokyo. Likewise, Iran Air’s U.K. Costco membership was revoked, Costco reported then in a securities filing.