THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

When you let states get involved in areas that they know nothing about and have no business being involved in, such as foreign policy.Over the years, some 20 states, in a fit of me-tooism passed laws of their own to impose state level sanctions on Iran.

In a little known aspect of Iran's international isolation, around two dozen states have enacted measures punishing companies operating in certain sectors of its economy, directing public pension funds with billions of dollars in assets to divest from the firms and sometimes barring them from public contracts.

In more than half those states, the restrictions expire only if Iran is no longer designated to be supporting terrorism or if all U.S. federal sanctions against Iran are lifted - unlikely outcomes even in the case of a final nuclear accord. Two states, Kansas and Mississippi, are even considering new sanctions targeting the country.

The prospect of unwavering sanctions at the state level, or new ones, just as the federal government reaches a landmark agreement with Iran risks widening a divide between states and the federal government on a crucial foreign policy issue.

Though U.S. states have often coordinated their measures with federal sanctions on Iran, their divestment actions sometimes take a tougher line on foreign firms with Iran links than is the case under federal policy.

"Our investment sanctions are not tied in any way to President Obama's negotiations with the Iranians," said Don Gaetz, a Republican Florida state senator who sponsored legislation in 2007 punishing companies with investments in Iran's energy sector.

"They would have to change their behavior dramatically and we would not be necessarily guided by President Obama or any other president's opinion about the Iranians," Gaetz said...

Among around a dozen states contacted directly by Reuters, legislators in Georgia, Florida, and Michigan said they had no intention of changing their Iran policies even in light of a federal deal. State officials in Connecticut and Illinois said new local legislation would be needed to change their divestment policies, even if a deal were signed.

Officials in New York and Oregon told Reuters they would look to changes in law at the federal level in the case of a nuclear deal to determine how it would affect their policies.

And now the Democratic states have to repeal laws and form new policies if an agreement is reached. And Republican states think they have a new way of obstructing the White House.