Florida leads on Iran once again

States have stepped up to make sure that their citizens do not unwillingly participate in providing corporate life support to a terrorist regime by doing business with, and investing in, companies that do business with Iran.  One state in particular has been especially active for years in policing its investments and business practices from benefiting Iran and other state sponsors of terrorism: Florida.

Since coming to power in 1979, and to the present day, the Islamic theocracy of Iran has murdered and kidnapped Americans, sponsored jihadist terrorism abroad, proliferated nuclear technology in violation of international agreements, and developed and deployed ballistic missiles to destabilize the Middle East and threaten American interests. As a result of these flagrant violations Iran has been under the diplomatic, military and economic sanctions of multiple nations, led by the United States.

During the Obama and Biden administrations however the U.S. federal government has sought to ease sanctions on Iran, and even transferred billions of dollars to the Ayatollahs in a futile effort to get an Iranian nuclear deal. In response Iran and its terrorist proxies have only increased their terrorist behavior.  As a result of failed federal leadership, more than 20 states have taken action to prevent their pension systems from investing in companies that do business in Iran’s energy sector, its chief revenue source. A few other states have gone further by prohibiting state contracts from going to companies doing business with Iran’s energy sector.

Last week Florida went even further. Led by State Senator Bryan Avila and Representative John Snyder, the Florida legislature passed a bill that Governor DeSantis signed into law on 14 November which greatly expanded the categories of “scrutinized” companies that will not be able to enter into contracts with the state of Florida.

Now, in addition to companies doing business with Iran’s energy sector being prohibited from doing business with Florida, businesses involved in the following sectors of the Iranian economy will get the same treatment:

• Construction sector
• Financial sector
• Manufacturing sector
• Metals sector
• Mining sector
• Petrochemical sector
• Port sector
• Shipbuilding sector
• Shipping sector
• Textile sector

Florida is now on the absolute cutting edge when it comes to making sure taxpayer-supported funds and activities do not end up benefiting Iran in any way.

Every state needs to take this action, especially as the Biden administration continues to take unilateral action to award Iran with billions of dollars.