“I am glad to learn that General Electric has agreed to sever any future ties with Iran. It appears that General Electric is agreeing with what we have maintained all along; that doing business with nations that support terrorism is bad for the bottom line and goes against everything this nation stands for.

“I will continue to do everything in my power on behalf of the New York City pension funds to convince other U.S. corporations that this cynical practice must stop, and I will work with our federal legislators to close the loophole in the law that allows this shameless commerce to continue.”

Thompson, on behalf of the city’s pension funds, had submitted two proposals to General Electric, which conducts business operations with the Iranian government through its Canadian subsidiary, General Electric Hydro. The first proposal received more than $5 billion worth of shareholder votes, allowing the measure to be resubmitted. As of December 2004, the funds had roughly 33,220,000 General Electric shares worth close to $1.1 billion.

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