On Wednesday, Alaska's Governor Parnell welcomed the efforts of the Alaska Retirement Management Board to divest interest in companies doing business in Iran. Over the past two months, since the board passed a resolution on September 20th, it has divested more than $15 million from businesses with ties to that country.

Governor Parnell said in a press release on Wednesday that “Iran continues to pose a significant threat to our ally Israel and the world at large as it builds its nuclear weapons capability.” The governor went on to say, “Alaskans can be proud of the ARM Board for taking a measured and responsible stance that acknowledges the significant financial risk of investing in Iran.”

Department of Revenue spokesperson Lacy Wilcox stated that The ARM Board has already identified six companies doing business with Iran that were also invested in the state’s retirement systems. Those companies have been identified as Aker Solutions, Lukoil, Petrofac, Repsol, Saipem and Technip. According to Wilcox, those companies have already been divested. The board of nine trustees cited the risk of continuing investment in Iran, risks such as the high level of economic sanctions, as well as the risk of war, asset appropriation, and investment destabilization as reasons for divestment in the resolution.

The board’s resolution called for the development and maintenance of a list of publicly-traded companies doing business in the Middle Eastern country. The board will disallow investment in those companies on the list and call for an orderly divestiture of holdings on behalf of those companies.