Governor McCrory Rejects Obama Administration's Request To Reverse Iran Sanctions | Eastern North Carolina Now

 Raleigh, N.C.     Today, Governor Pat McCrory rejected the Obama administration's request for North Carolina to reverse its state-imposed ban on investments in Iran.

 "Under President Obama's questionable Iran deal, billions have already been paid or released to Iran's regime with little to show for it," said Governor McCrory. "So long as I am governor, North Carolina will not subsidize a regime which remains the world's lead sponsor of terrorism. It's time for Washington, D.C. to put the safety, security and best interests of North Carolinians and Americans first."

 Last year, Governor McCrory signed the bipartisan Iran Divestment Act of 2015, which prohibited the N.C. Retirement System, state agencies and local governments from using funds to invest in Iran or contracting with businesses that have investment ties to Iran. The bill passed the General Assembly in a near-unanimous vote and was signed by Governor McCrory on June 29, 2015. According to Bloomberg News, more than two dozen states have state divestment laws targeting Iran.

 In an April 8 letter to Governor McCrory, the State Department's lead coordinator for implementing the President's Iran nuclear deal, Stephen Mull, requested that the State of North Carolina revisit and lift laws and policies that divest state funds from Iran and block state and local governments from denying contracts to businesses with ties to Iran.

 In the same letter to Governor McCrory requesting North Carolina lift its sanctions, the Obama administration admits that the United States "continues to have significant concerns with Iran's other activities that harm our interests, such as its support for terrorism, its human rights abuses, its destabilizing activities in the region, and its activities related to ballistic missiles."

 The Obama administration has paid more than one billion dollars in taxpayer funds to Iran and released billions in Iranian assets after striking the Iran Nuclear Deal in July of 2015. The deal has received widespread and bipartisan criticism for empowering the leading sponsor of terrorism and not doing enough to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran.

 Click here to read the U.S. State Department letter asking Governor McCrory to lift North Carolina's sanctions on Iran.

• Contact:
•  Crystal Feldman
•  govpress@nc.gov