In Case You Missed It: UANI Profiled in June Edition of Newsmax Magazine

In Case You Missed It: UANI Profiled in June Edition of Newsmax Magazine  "We've Had Real Success With Debarment, Because It Forces Companies To Immediately Make A Choice"        13 States Defy Iran Sanctions All 50 states must comply in order for sanctions against the rogue regime to work. By Sharon Harris-Zlotnick Newsmax June 2013      ... Three years after federal sanctions were enacted, the majority of U.S. states have yet to sign off on comprehensive barriers to trade with Iran. Worse, 13 states allow shipping companies that do business with Iran to access their ports. Those revelations come from the New York-based United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) group, a nonprofit dedicated to preventing Iran from attaining nuclear weapons. Only seven states, California, Indiana, Michigan, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, and Florida, have enacted so-called "debarment legislation." And a few of those have ports that continue to allow access to companies that do business with Iran.      Three other states, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Missouri, have pending debarment legislation. "We've had real success with debarment, because it forces companies to immediately make a choice," UANI Communications Director Nathan Carleton tells Newsmax. "Some companies have stopped doing business immediately with Iran."      UANI wants the debarment process adopted in all 50 states. Doing so would reinforce federal sanctions. ...      UANI views divestment as a step in the right direction. ... But divestment falls short of actual debarment. Ports and shipping play a key role in Iran's push for regional hegemony. Ports in Iran are controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and his regime use the ports to bring in components for Iran's nuclear and ballistic-missile programs. Also, it uses its ports to ship weapons to other radical forces in the Middle East. Experts say that almost certainly means that goods bound for Iran are transiting through U.S. ports en route to the Islamic nation. ...      Orde Kittrie, a professor of law at Arizona State University and senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a D.C.-based think tank, says the best way to tighten sanctions is to enlist the support of major U.S. states.      "The most impactful next step, at the state level, would be to persuade the remaining big budget states, topped by Texas, to adopt Iran contracting laws," says Kittrie. ...      Opponents of Iran's nuclear activities are pushing two other measures. One is legislation that would require all financial institutions in any given state to certify that they have no business interactions with other institutions that, in turn, do business with banks in Iran. ... Another sector under close scrutiny is insurance. Proposed legislation would have all insurance firms licensed by each state insurance commissioner divest of any equity holding related to Iran.      UANI also wants to block insurance firms from underwriting various Iranian endeavors, such as providing insurance for its vessels. Doing so could hamper Iran's ability to do business on global waterways.      UANI CEO Mark D. Wallace, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under George W. Bush, lauds sanctions as using "pen and ink over bullets and bombs."      He adds, "Robust sanctions must be part of a total strategy." ###  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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