Large multinationals describe their own corporate structure in detail. A group with a subsidiary in Iran usually lists it, with the city and the percentage held, in the companies-of-the-group table at the back of its annual report; an operator with an Iranian partner usually names the partner. These pages are public and in English, and almost nobody reads them, because they sit at the end of very long documents. This is what they say, collected. Every row was read in the report itself and carries the page it sits on and the wording the company used.
14 Iranian entities, named across 19 separate disclosures by 10 companies in 7 countries. 4 of the 14 have a record in the Tehran Index registry; the rest do not, and that gap is itself the finding. By sector of the Iranian counterparty: telecom 8, pharmaceuticals 3, consumer goods 3.
Named by more than one company: Irancell Telecommunications Services Company (4 companies); Mobile Telecommunication Company of Iran (2 companies); Rightel Communication Services Company PJS (2 companies).
| Company | Iranian entity | Relationship | Disclosed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arm Holdings plc United Kingdom · ARM | Irancell Telecommunications Services Company telecom | Roaming agreement | no gross revenues gross revenue for the year ended 31 March 2026 20-F year ended 31 March 2026, in the company’s wordsSoftBank Group, through one of its non-U.S. subsidiaries, provides roaming services in Iran through Irancell Telecommunications Services Company. During the year ended March 31, 2026, SoftBank Group had no gross revenues from such services and no net profit was generated. Arm Holdings plc, 20-F year ended 31 March 2026, Disclosure Pursuant to Section 13(r) of the Exchange Act, filed 2026-05-26. Open the filing. Read by the desk on 2026-09-12. Desk note: The exposure is SoftBank Group's, disclosed by Arm because SoftBank controls it. A reader searching for Iranian counterparties under Arm's own name would never find this. |
| AstraZeneca PLC United Kingdom · AZN | AstraZeneca Pars Company pharmaceuticals · no registry record | Wholly owned subsidiary | no amount disclosed20-F 2025, in the company’s wordsAstraZeneca has a legal entity based in Iran, AstraZeneca Pars Company ("AstraZeneca Pars"), which has no employees, and is owned by non-US Group companies. ... AstraZeneca Pars has not entered into any commercial transaction since its incorporation; products registered under AstraZeneca Pars are exclusively sold by a third-party distributor. AstraZeneca PLC, 20-F 2025, Disclosures Under the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act of 2012, filed 2026-02-24. Open the filing. Read by the desk on 2026-09-12. Desk note: Outside the technology perimeter, so census only and no registry record. A registered entity with no employees and no transactions since incorporation. |
| Nestle S.A. Switzerland | Nestle Iran (Private Joint Stock Company) consumer goods · no registry record | Majority subsidiary 95.9 percent of ultimate capital | share capital 358,538 million rial share capital as printed: KIRR 358 538 000 (in thousands) consolidated financial statements 2024, in the company’s wordsIran. Nestle Iran (Private Joint Stock Company). Tehran. 95.9%. KIRR 358 538 000 Nestle S.A., consolidated financial statements 2024, Companies of the Nestle Group, printed page 171 (PDF page 97). Open the filing. Read by the desk on 2026-09-12. Desk note: Not an SEC filer for this disclosure, so it is invisible to a full-text search of EDGAR and had to be found in the company's own group-company table. Read as a rendered page on 12 September after text extraction truncated before the section. Census only. CORRECTED 2026-09-14: the structured amount read 358,538,000 rial, dropping the K in KIRR; the filing's figure is in thousands of rial, so share capital is 358,538,000 thousand rial, that is 358.5 billion rial (about 35.9 billion toman). Found by an external audit against printed page 171. No dollar conversion: registered capital is a nominal legal figure (docs/DATA_CONVENTIONS.md section 8). |
| Nokia Corporation Finland · NOK | Information Technology Application Development TACFAM Company telecom · no registry record | Minority shareholder | no amount disclosed20-F 2025, in the company’s wordswe cannot exclude the possibility that Tacfam is owned or controlled, directly or indirectly, by the government of Iran Nokia Corporation, 20-F 2025, Section 219 disclosure, printed page 117, filed 2026-03-05. Open the filing. Read by the desk on 2026-09-12. Desk note: Recorded as the filer's own assessment, which Nokia itself qualifies as difficult to make with any reasonable degree of certainty. Tehran Index holds no independent evidence on Tacfam. |
| Nokia Corporation Finland · NOK | Pishahang Communications Network Development Company telecom | Controlled company | no amount disclosed20-F 2025, in the company’s wordsNokia is the controlling shareholder in Pishahang Communications Network Development Company (Pishahang). The other minority shareholder in Pishahang is Information Technology Application Development TACFAM Company (Tacfam). Nokia Corporation, 20-F 2025, Section 219 disclosure, printed page 117, filed 2026-03-05. Open the filing. Read by the desk on 2026-09-12. Desk note: Nokia also reports one employee in Iran at the end of 2025, held through a branch of a Finnish subsidiary, no sale activity in Iran in 2025, and an intention to continue not accepting new business in Iran in 2026. The same disclosure appears in the 2024 filing. |
| Novo Nordisk A/S Denmark · NVO | Novo Nordisk Pars pharmaceuticals · no registry record | Wholly owned subsidiary 100 percent | not in excess of 1 percent of Group sales gross revenue from transactions with government-linked entities in 2025 20-F 2025, in the company’s wordsNovo Nordisk Pars ("NN Pars"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Novo Nordisk A/S located in Iran, contracts with a number of companies that may be owned or controlled by the GOI to distribute its products. Novo Nordisk A/S, 20-F 2025, Section 13(r) disclosure, filed 2026-02-04. Open the filing. Read by the desk on 2026-09-12. Desk note: The most substantial operating presence in the set: NN Pars bought land from a state-linked holding company in 2016 and opened a facility in August 2020 that assembles and packages medical pens for use in Iran. Census only, outside the technology perimeter. |
| Roche Holding AG Switzerland | Roche Pars Co. (Ltd.) pharmaceuticals · no registry record | Wholly owned subsidiary 100 percent | share capital 41,610.0 million rial share capital as printed: IRR 41,610.0 (in millions) finance report 2024, in the company’s wordsIran. Roche Pars Co. (Ltd.). Tehran. IRR 41,610.0. 100 Roche Holding AG, finance report 2024, Companies of the Roche Group, printed page 140 (PDF page 142). Open the filing. Read by the desk on 2026-09-12. Desk note: Same position as the Nestle row: found in the company's own group-company table rather than through EDGAR. Read as a rendered page on 12 September. Census only. |
| Telefonica S.A. Spain · TEF | Irancell Telecommunications Services Company telecom | Roaming agreement | 7,467 euros revenue recorded by Telefonica Germany as printed: 7,467 euros 20-F 2024, in the company’s wordsTelefonica Germany GmbH & Co. OHG ("TG"), our German 96.85% indirectly-owned subsidiary (as of December 31, 2024), has respective roaming agreements with (i) MCI and (ii) Irancell. During 2024 TG recorded the following revenues related to these roaming agreements: (i) no revenues from MCI and (ii) 7,467 euros from Irancell. Telefonica S.A., 20-F 2024, Iran disclosure, roaming agreements, filed 2025-02-27. Open the filing. Read by the desk on 2026-09-12. |
| Telefonica S.A. Spain · TEF | Mobile Telecommunication Company of Iran telecom | Roaming agreement | 474,806 euros revenue recorded by Telefonica Moviles Espana as printed: 474,806 euros 20-F 2024, in the company’s wordsTelefonica Moviles Espana S.A. ("TME"), our Spanish directly wholly-owned subsidiary, has respective roaming agreements with (i) Mobile Telecommunication Company of Iran ("MCI"), (ii) Taliya ("Taliya") and (iii) Telecommunication Kish Co ("TKC"). During 2024 TME recorded the following revenues related to these roaming agreements: (i) 474,806 euros from MCI, (ii) no revenues from Taliya and (iii) no revenues from TKC. Telefonica S.A., 20-F 2024, Iran disclosure, roaming agreements, filed 2025-02-27. Open the filing. Read by the desk on 2026-09-12. Desk note: Telefonica S.A. has filed no Form 20-F for 2025 as at 12 September 2026, confirmed by an EDGAR full-text query restricted to its own filer identifier, so this is its latest. The desk does not assert a reason. |
| Telefonica S.A. Spain · TEF | Telecommunication Kish Co telecom · no registry record | Roaming agreement | no revenues revenue recorded by Telefonica Moviles Espana 20-F 2024, in the company’s wordsroaming agreements with (i) Mobile Telecommunication Company of Iran ("MCI"), (ii) Taliya ("Taliya") and (iii) Telecommunication Kish Co ("TKC") ... (iii) no revenues from TKC Telefonica S.A., 20-F 2024, Iran disclosure, roaming agreements, filed 2025-02-27. Open the filing. Read by the desk on 2026-09-12. Desk note: Not the same company as Iran Kish Credit Card, which is a payments processor on the Tehran Index registry. Named here so the two are never conflated. |
| Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S. Turkey · TKC | Gostaresh Ertebatat Taliya PJS telecom · no registry record | Roaming agreement | no revenue gross revenue for the period 20-F 2025, in the company’s wordsDespite having an international roaming relationship with Gostaresh Ertebatat Taliya PJS ("Taliya"), there was no revenue or commercial engagement between the parties during the reporting period. Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S., 20-F 2025, Section XII, disclosure pursuant to Section 219 of ITRA, filed 2026-04-17. Open the filing. Read by the desk on 2026-09-12. Desk note: A live agreement with nothing flowing through it, which is the clearest illustration that a Section 13(r) disclosure records a relationship rather than a business. |
| Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S. Turkey · TKC | Irancell Telecommunications Services Company telecom | Roaming agreement | about 43.6 million Turkish lira gross revenue and 35.5 million gross margin across the three live Iranian roaming relationships gross revenue and gross margin, all Iranian roaming agreements combined 20-F 2025, in the company’s wordsDuring the year ended December 31, 2025, Turkcell had international roaming relationships with the following companies in Iran: Telecommunication Company of Iran, Irancell Telecommunications Services Company ("MTN Irancell"), and Rightel Communication Services Company PJS ("Rightel"). Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S., 20-F 2025, Section XII, disclosure pursuant to Section 219 of ITRA, filed 2026-04-17. Open the filing. Read by the desk on 2026-09-12. Desk note: The amount covers all three counterparties together; Turkcell does not split it by operator. |
| Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S. Turkey · TKC | Rightel Communication Services Company PJS telecom · no registry record | Roaming agreement | no amount disclosed20-F 2025, in the company’s wordsRightel Communication Services Company PJS ("Rightel") Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S., 20-F 2025, Section XII, disclosure pursuant to Section 219 of ITRA, filed 2026-04-17. Open the filing. Read by the desk on 2026-09-12. Desk note: Iran's third mobile operator. No Tehran Index registry record yet; it is named by Turkcell and by VEON. |
| Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S. Turkey · TKC | Telecommunication Company of Iran telecom | Roaming agreement | no amount disclosed20-F 2025, in the company’s wordsTurkcell had international roaming relationships with the following companies in Iran: Telecommunication Company of Iran, Irancell Telecommunications Services Company ("MTN Irancell"), and Rightel Communication Services Company PJS ("Rightel"). Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S., 20-F 2025, Section XII, disclosure pursuant to Section 219 of ITRA, filed 2026-04-17. Open the filing. Read by the desk on 2026-09-12. Desk note: State-linked incumbent. Carried in the census because the filing names it; it is not a commercial prospect. |
| Unilever PLC United Kingdom · UL | Unilever Iran (Private Joint Stock Company) consumer goods · no registry record | Majority subsidiary 99.99 percent | no amount disclosed as printed: IRR1,000,000.00 20-F 2025, in the company’s wordsIran - No. 23, Corner of 33rd Street, Zagros Street, Argentina Square, Tehran. Unilever Iran (Private Joint Stock Company) (99.99) IRR1,000,000.00 Unilever PLC, 20-F 2025, Exhibit 8.1, companies of the group, filed 2026-03-12. Open the filing. Read by the desk on 2026-09-12. Desk note: Census only, outside the technology perimeter. Registered at the same Tehran address as Unilever-Golestan Foods. |
| Unilever PLC United Kingdom · UL | Unilever-Golestan Foods (Private Joint Stock Company) consumer goods · no registry record | Majority subsidiary 51 percent | no amount disclosed as printed: IRR1,000,000.00 20-F 2025, in the company’s wordsIran - Second Floor, No. 23, Corner of 33rd Street, Zagros Street, Argentina Square, Tehran. Unilever-Golestan Foods (Private Joint Stock Company) (51) IRR1,000,000.00 Unilever PLC, 20-F 2025, Exhibit 8.1, companies of the group, filed 2026-03-12. Open the filing. Read by the desk on 2026-09-12. Desk note: A joint venture with an Iranian food group, held at 51 percent. Census only. |
| VEON Ltd. Netherlands and Dubai · VEON | Irancell Telecommunications Services Company telecom | Roaming agreement | about 196.23 US dollars gross revenue for 2025 as printed: US$ 196.23 20-F 2025, in the company’s wordsOur non-U.S. subsidiaries have roaming agreements with the following GSM mobile network operators in Iran, which may be owned, controlled or otherwise affiliated with the Government of Iran: MTN Irancell; RighTel and Mobile Telecommunications Company of Iran. During 2025, our gross revenue received from roaming arrangements with MTN Irancell, RighTel and Mobile Telecommunications Company of Iran was approximately US$ 196.23, US$ 1,019.06 and US$ 1,846.68, respectively. VEON Ltd., 20-F 2025, Iran disclosure, roaming and interconnect, filed 2026-03-16. Open the filing. Read by the desk on 2026-09-12. Desk note: VEON reports a net result of minus 66.50 US dollars on the Irancell arrangement. Three figures under two thousand dollars, each disclosed to the cent, which is the clearest evidence that the obligation attaches to the relationship and not to its size. |
| VEON Ltd. Netherlands and Dubai · VEON | Mobile Telecommunication Company of Iran telecom | Roaming agreement | about 1,846.68 US dollars gross revenue for 2025 as printed: US$ 1,846.68 20-F 2025, in the company’s wordsDuring 2025, our gross revenue received from roaming arrangements with MTN Irancell, RighTel and Mobile Telecommunications Company of Iran was approximately US$ 196.23, US$ 1,019.06 and US$ 1,846.68, respectively. VEON Ltd., 20-F 2025, Iran disclosure, roaming and interconnect, filed 2026-03-16. Open the filing. Read by the desk on 2026-09-12. Desk note: VEON spells the name "Mobile Telecommunications Company of Iran"; the canonical form is used here and the filer's own spelling is preserved in the quote. |
| VEON Ltd. Netherlands and Dubai · VEON | Rightel Communication Services Company PJS telecom · no registry record | Roaming agreement | about 1,019.06 US dollars gross revenue for 2025 as printed: US$ 1,019.06 20-F 2025, in the company’s wordsour gross revenue received from roaming arrangements with MTN Irancell, RighTel and Mobile Telecommunications Company of Iran was approximately US$ 196.23, US$ 1,019.06 and US$ 1,846.68, respectively VEON Ltd., 20-F 2025, Iran disclosure, roaming and interconnect, filed 2026-03-16. Open the filing. Read by the desk on 2026-09-12. |
Two kinds of document feed this table. Companies with a US listing publish a standard section itemising Iran-related activity by counterparty, so that group is enumerable rather than guessed. Everyone else is swept by name through their own companies-of-the-group tables, which is how the Nestle and Roche rows were found. Both are ordinary corporate reporting, published by the company about itself.
This is not the population of foreign companies in Iran. A company appears here only if it publishes a detailed annual report, and it does that only when outside shareholders require it. Privately held groups publish none of this, whatever the size of their Iranian business: Tetra Pak has supplied Iran’s dairy and juice industry for decades from an office in Tehran and appears nowhere in these documents. Absence from this table is not evidence of absence from Iran. Nor is an amount a measure of weight. Several rows record that very little happens, an entity with no employees, an agreement that carried no revenue; a company reports a relationship because of what it is, not what it is worth.
The census covers every sector, including pharmaceuticals, consumer goods and shipping, outside the technology perimeter of the company registry; only rows whose Iranian counterparty is a digital-economy entity link into it, and none of these foreign companies enters its counts. Not yet loaded, and named so the omission is visible: disclosures of an Iranian exposure with no named counterparty (impaired receivables, bank guarantees), and the back series. The table holds the most recent reporting season.
Cite as: Tehran Index, Foreign Exposure to Iran, a census of foreign filings naming an Iranian counterparty. 19 disclosures, 10 filers, 14 Iranian entities, read in the filings themselves; each row carries its document, page reference and verbatim quote.