The Iran Divestment bill was signed into law on April 20, 2011 by Gov. Branstad. The law restricts direct investment of state funds in companies that provide power production-related services, mineral extraction activities, oil-related activities or military equipment to the government of Iran.
Iowa is now one of twenty -four states having similar legislation.
Americans are concerned, in general, with the Iranian regime's apparent quest to attain nuclear weapons.
As indicated, below, present nuclear negotiation with Iran continue to end unsatisfactorily, according to the European Union.
Nuclear negotiations with Iran end in failure
January 23, 2011|By Julia Damianova, Los Angeles Times [excerpts]
Led by Catherine Ashton, the European Union's foreign policy chief, the diplomats were trying to revive an offer by the United States, France and Russia for a swap of some of Iran's low-enriched uranium stockpile for fuel for the Iranian reactor that produces isotopes for medical purposes.
Ashton said any expectations that Iran would respond positively to the ideas Western diplomats brought to the table were crushed.
"We had hoped to have a detailed and constructive discussion of those ideas," she told reporters in Istanbul. "But it became clear that the Iranian side was not ready for this unless we agree to preconditions related to enrichment and sanctions.
"Both these preconditions are not the way to proceed," she said.
Before the start of the talks, Western diplomats said that Iran needed to come forward with concrete measures to convince the West that its nuclear program was indeed for peaceful purposes.
In 2009, the U.S. and its allies tried to persuade Iran to ship some of its low-enriched uranium stockpile out of the country in exchange for fuel. The West saw the deal as a confidence-building measure and a way to remove material that, if enriched further, could be used for nuclear weapons.
After initially agreeing, Iran backed away from the offer and has since started to enrich uranium further.
Western diplomats warned before the meeting that if the talks failed, new sanctions could follow.
