Financial News

BOSTON (AP) - Republican Mitt Romney, seeking to make U.S. policy toward Iran his issue, on Thursday urged several elected New York officials to divest any state pension funds from Iran.
'With your new responsibilities overseeing one of America's largest pension funds, you have a unique opportunity to lead an effort to isolate Iran as it pursues nuclear armament,' the 2008 presidential contender wrote to New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.
Romney, who wrote similar letters to Gov. Eliot Spitzer and New York Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Chuck Schumer, all Democrats, said screening pension investments and divesting from companies linked to Iran could have an effect.
It was not clear how much New York had invested in Iran, if anything. State officials could not be immediately reached for comment.
Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, issued a similar call to his home state last month, but it turned out Massachusetts did not invest any of its $46 billion in pension funds in Iran.
Spokesmen for Clinton's presidential campaign and for Schumer had no comment on the letter.
Romney, whose only experience in elective office was four years as governor, has been furiously trying to expand his foreign policy portfolio. Last year, he made quick trips to Iran, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and in December he personally paid for a fact-finding mission to Japan, South Korea and China.
Most recently, he has been focusing on Iran criticizing its pursuit of a nuclear program. Earlier this month, Romney also accused Clinton of 'timidity' regarding the security threat posed by Iran.
In a speech to a retreat of conservative congressional Republicans, he lashed out at her for telling a pro-Israel dinner that a dialogue with countries hostile to Israel -- including Iran and Syria -- is needed to promote peace in the Middle East.
Last month, Romney called for economic sanctions against Iran 'at least as severe' as those imposed on South Africa during its apartheid era, in an effort to isolate the Central Asian nation and convince it to give up its pursuit of a nuclear weapon.
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