UANI Applauds Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley, State Lawmakers for Introducing Iran Debarment Legislation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 9, 2012 Contact: Nathan Carleton, press@uani.com Phone: (212) 554-3296 UANI Applauds Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley, State Lawmakers for Introducing Iran Debarment Legislation New York, NY - On Thursday, United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) applauded Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley and state lawmakers for sponsoring legislation that would bar companies active in Iran from doing business with the State of Maryland. The legislation was introduced in the Maryland Senate last week, and Governor O'Malley has made it a key legislative priority for 2012. UANI last year sent Governor O'Malley a copy of UANI's model contracting legislation, as well as a letter urging him to introduce it in Annapolis. Said UANI President, Ambassador Mark D. Wallace, who in August 2011 wrote the Op-Ed "Time Has Come for States to Take Strong Action on Iran": We applaud Governor O'Malley and Maryland lawmakers for introducing contract debarment, and we urge them to pass it quickly. Maryland can join other states in ensuring that its citizens' tax dollars are not going to companies that do business in Iran. Across America, state legislatures are joining the international effort to economically pressure the Iranian regime until it ends its quest for nuclear weapons. By working together, international bodies, nations, and state and local governments can send a strong and effective message to the regime to change course. California, Florida, and New York have already passed Iran debarment legislation, adapted from UANI model legislation, and Indiana introduced such a bill last month. 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 reported, California has been enforcing its law, the 2010 Iran Contracting Act, and has succeeded in pressuring several multinational corporations to end their business in Iran. Last year, the State of California published a list of companies now prohibited from doing business with California due to their work in Iran. Click here to view UANI's State Certification map. Click here to visit UANI's model legislation home page. Click here to read Ambassador Wallace's Op-Ed, "Time Has Come for States to Take Strong Action on 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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