UANI Calls on States to Pass Legislation Debarring Contractors Doing Business in Iran

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 14, 2011 Contact: Nathan Carleton, press@uani.com Phone: (212) 554-3296 UANI Calls on States and Municipalities to Pass Legislation Debarring Contractors Doing Business in Iran New York, NY - On Thursday, United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) urged state and municipal legislatures to follow the lead of California and Florida in passing UANI model legislation barring companies which do business in Iran from receiving state contracts. UANI wrote to Governors and legislative leaders of 48 states, urging them to take this meaningful and substantive action to pressure the Iranian regime. California and Florida have already passed Iran debarment legislation, adapted from UANI model legislation. UANI unveiled the "Iran Business Certification Act" in June 2009, which shortly thereafter was introduced in U.S. Congress as the "Accountability for Business Choices in Iran Act." As the Financial Times recently reported, California has been enforcing its law, the 2010 Iran Contracting Act, and has already succeeded in pressuring several multinational corporations to end their business in Iran. Said UANI President, Ambassador Mark D. Wallace: California and Florida have shown that State and Municipal Legislatures and Governors can play a major part in pressuring companies to end their business in Iran. Contract debarment can be a game changer in convincing businesses around the world to join the economic isolation of Iran, and it has already succeeded in pressuring several multinational corporations to end their business in Iran. The other 48 states can now pass UANI model legislation that will force companies to choose between receiving U.S. taxpayer money or funding the Iranian regime. UANI looks forward to working with more states and municipalities to pass and enforce this legislation. By pressuring companies to pull out of Iran, states and municipalities can send a strong, unified message that the American people will not stand by idly as Iran continues to pursue nuclear weapons, kill U.S. soldiers on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, arm terrorists around the world, and abuse its own people. Click here to send a message to your State Governor and Representatives. Click here to visit UANI's Model Legislation homepage. Click here to read UANI's new Iran Contracting Model Legislation on contract debarment. Click here to read the Financial Times article, "California tightens screw on trade with Iran." ### United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) is a program of the American Coalition Against Nuclear Iran, Inc., a tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. The prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran should concern every American and be unacceptable to the community of nations. Since 1979 the Iranian regime, most recently under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's leadership, has demonstrated increasingly threatening behavior and rhetoric toward the US and the West. Iran continues to defy the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the United Nations in their attempts to monitor its nuclear activities. A number of Arab states have warned that Iran's development of nuclear weapons poses a threat to Middle East stability and could provoke a regional nuclear arms race. In short, the prospect of a nuclear armed Iran is a danger to world peace. United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) is a non-partisan, broad-based coalition that is united in a commitment to prevent Iran from fulfilling its ambition to become a regional super-power possessing nuclear weapons. UANI is an issue-based coalition in which each coalition member will have its own interests as well as the collective goal of advancing an Iran free of nuclear weapons. The Objectives of United Against a Nuclear Iran Inform the public about the nature of the Iranian regime, including its desire and intent to possess nuclear weapons, as well as Iran's role as a state sponsor of global terrorism, and a major violator of human rights at home and abroad; Heighten awareness nationally and internationally about the danger that a nuclear armed Iran poses to the region and the world; Mobilize public support, utilize media outreach, and persuade our elected leaders to voice a robust and united American opposition to a nuclear Iran; Lay the groundwork for effective US policies in coordination with European and other allies; Persuade the regime in Tehran to desist from its quest for nuclear weapons, while striving not to punish the Iranian people, and; Promote efforts that focus on vigorous national and international, social, economic, political and diplomatic measures. UANI is led by an advisory board of outstanding national figures representing all sectors of our country.

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