WASHINGTON (JTA) — Illinois will divest $133 million of state pension funds from foreign companies doing business with Iran’s energy sector.
Illinois state Sen. Jeff Schoenberg (D) and Rep. Lou Lang (D) announced the divestment Thursday, reported the JUF News in Chicago. Illinois was the second state in the United States to pass an Iranian divestment bill, and the first to require foreign companies seeking business with the state to indicate if they are doing business with Iran’s energy sector.
"The law declares simply the state’s readiness not just to speak out against Iran’s recklessness but to act to curb it as well,” Shoenberg said at a news conference. “As long as the Iranian leadership continues to pursue nuclear weapons in defiance of international law, we are absolutely compelled to withhold our public investments from this rogue country.”
