Pension funds urged to cut ties to Iranians
WASHINGTON – Federal lawmakers and officials in at least four states are pushing government-employee pension funds to dump shares of foreign companies that do business in Iran.
On Tuesday, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., proposed legislation that would require federal pension funds to unload shares of any company with more than $20 million invested in Iran’s energy sector.
Government and private pension funds operating in the United States would be barred from future purchases of shares of companies investing in Iran, under Ros-Lehtinen’s bill.
In June, Missouri ordered state-employee pension funds to sell shares of companies with commercial interests in Iran, North Korea, Syria and Sudan. All four countries are accused by the State Department of sponsoring terrorism.
Georgia, California and Florida are considering similar measures.
U.S. companies are already prohibited from most trade with and investment in Iran.
The proposed restrictions would ban government pension funds from owning shares of foreign companies that are working to overhaul Iran’s oil infrastructure and develop its natural gas assets. Most are energy and engineering companies based in Europe and Asia.
Among the targets: Anglo-Dutch giant Shell, France’s Total, Italy’s ENI, Russia’s Gazprom, Germany’s Siemens and China’s Sinopec and China National Petroleum (CNPC).
By denying Iran foreign capital, “we hamper the deadly ambitions of a regime heavily dependent on income earned from oil and natural gas,” Ros-Lehtinen said in a statement.
The United Nations Security Council imposed trade sanctions on Iran in December after it refused to suspend efforts to make nuclear fuel. The United States and other members are mulling stiffer sanctions in response to a report by the U.N. nuclear watchdog, which says Iran is accelerating its program.
The U.S. Treasury has pressured European banks to halt or restrict transactions with Iranian banks. It says the Iranian banks move money for Iran’s nuclear program and help fund Islamic terror groups.
The pension moves come as inflation and unemployment are rising in Iran. Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, has criticized President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for mishandling the economy.
“Can this be costly to Iran? Absolutely,” says Trita Parsi, president of the National Iranian American Council in Washington. “Can it be enough to cause a change in policy? That I’m doubtful of.”
Hu Yi, senior economist at CNPC, said U.S. pension fund restrictions would not affect CNPC.
Shell spokesman Adam Newton said Shell’s decision on a $10 billion gas deal in Iran “is a year or so away, so it would be premature to speculate” about the impact.