On Thursday I posted a list of well-known companies who, according to United Against Nuclear Iran, continued to do business with the oppressive and illegitimate government of Iran. I said we would call them out and demand answers.

One of the companies on the list was Tyson Foods, the American multinational corporation best known for its chicken products. According to the UANI listing, no official response had come from Tyson in regards to its sales in Iran. So I went ahead and included Tyson on the list.

Well, tonight we received an answer from the company. In a comment to this blog by spokesman Gary Mickelson, Tyson says it has ceased all sales to the Islamic Republic.

Tyson’s corporate leadership is sensitive to concerns about our company doing business in Iran and has stopped any additional sales to the country. We believe this is the right thing to do.

Tyson has a wholly-owned subsidiary called Cobb-Vantress, which is one of the world’s premier chicken breeding companies. Cobb is based in Siloam Springs, Arkansas, but is an international business that includes a European subsidiary that develops and sells its own breeding stock. This subsidiary had been selling breeding stock to a private chicken company in Iran since 2003. Annual sales to this Iranian business averaged less than $2 million. Because the sales involved a foreign subsidiary and the breeding stock was from Europe, it was not a violation of any U.S. laws.

Even though these sales were lawful, we have stopped them. Cobb Europe’s last shipment to the Iranian chicken company was in January and it will not be providing any more.

While the sales from its subsidiary may be legal, they were wrong. Tyson has apparently recognized as much and, as Mickelson says in the statement, stopped all sales — including those from its subsidiaries.

It’s nice to witness a company that listens to the concerns of its customers and is willing to respond to a lowly blogger like myself. Good for Tyson. I think I’ll pick up a bag of their “Anytizers” for the weekend.