The report by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations revealed that under President Barack Obama, the Treasury Department issued a license in February 2016, never previously disclosed, that would have allowed Iran to convert $5.7 billion it held at a bank in Oman from Omani rials into euros by exchanging them first into U.S. dollars. If the Omani bank had allowed the exchange without such a license, it would have violated sanctions that bar Iran from transactions that touch the U.S. financial system.
Secret Obama-Era License Let Iran Tap Dollars | Newsmax.com
And here is ABC’s spin. . .
“A former Obama administration official dismissed the charge, telling ABC News, "There was no secret effort to give Iran access to the U.S. financial system. This was a routine license to allow the transfer of funds. That's totally in line with our well-known obligations under the deal." Jarrett Blanc, the former State Department coordinator for Iran deal under Obama, called the report "wildly overblown" and the license "absolutely common in sanctions regimes."
The gist is that after the Iran nuclear deal was signed and implemented, Iran was given access to its frozen assets in banks around the world, including $5.7 billion at a bank in Oman, the small country on the southeast tip of the Arabian peninsula. “
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/obama-admin-granted-iran-secret-license-access-us/story?id=55689587
CNN makes it very clear this is the GOP study, but sounds a little less sure about the legality of it. We were not lied to, we were “misled.”
“The majority report by the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigation says that the US Treasury, at the instruction of the US State Department, granted a license to convert the $5.7 billion briefly into American dollars so it could be converted into euros. The exchange was legal, the report notes.
Officials at Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control asked two US banks to work as intermediaries and execute the transaction, but they declined, citing concern over potential regulatory backlash and a ding to their reputations.”
The Hill has another slant. . .
“The report cites multiple instances where top officials such as Treasury Secretary Jack Lew pledged before Congress and the public that Iran would not have access to the U.S. financial system, both before and after authorizing the license.
“The Obama administration misled the American people and Congress because they were desperate to get a deal with Iran," Portman said in a statement.
Under President Obama, the U.S. and several other nations signed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with Iran in the summer of 2015, a pact that aimed to curb development of Iran's nuclear program. In exchange, the U.S. agreed to lift some of its economic sanctions issued against Iran. “
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