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U.S. NEWS Thursday 7 June 2018
Secret Obama-era permit let Iran convert funds to dollars

WASHINGTON (AP) — After The former Obama officials official told colleagues in effect in January 2016, Iran ing to give up more, the U.S.
striking an elusive nuclear disputed that the momen- an email, as described by began to complain that shouldn't give Iran anything
deal with Iran, the Obama tary access to U.S. banks the report. "It looks like we it wasn't reaping the ben- more than it already had.
administration found itself to convert funds through committed to a whole lot efits it had envisioned. Iran At the time, the Obama ad-
in a quandary in early 2016: the dollar constituted "ac- beyond just allowing the argued that other sanc- ministration downplayed
Iran had been promised cess to the U.S. financial immobilized funds to settle tions — such as those linked those concerns while
access to its long-frozen system." What's more, they out." The Obama admin- to human rights, terrorism speaking in general terms
overseas reserves, includ- dismissed the report as an- istration approached two and missile development about the need for the U.S.
ing $5.7 billion stuck in an other example of a faulty U.S. banks to facilitate the — were scaring off poten- to live up to its part of the
Omani bank. approach to Iran policy conversion, the report said, tial investors and banks deal. Secretary of State
To spend it, Iran wanted by Republicans and by but both refused, citing the who feared any business John Kerry and other top
to convert the money into President Donald Trump, reputational risk of doing with Iran would lead to aides fanned out across
U.S. dollars and then euros, who last month withdrew business with or for Iran. punishment. The global fi- Europe, Asia and the Mid-
but top U.S. officials had the U.S. from the landmark Issuing the license was not nancial system is heavily dle East trying to convince
repeatedly promised Con- 2015 nuclear accord. illegal. Still, it went above intertwined with U.S. banks, banks and businesses they
gress that Iran would never "They continue to malign and beyond what the making it nearly impossible could do business with Iran
gain access to America's the deal in an effort to jus- Obama administration was to conduct many interna- without violating sanctions
financial system. tify President Trump's unjus- required to do under the tional transactions without and facing steep fines.
Those assurances notwith- tifiable decision," said Ned terms of the nuclear agree- touching New York in one "Since Iran has kept its end
standing, the Obama ad- Price, who was Obama's ment, in which the U.S. and way or another. of the deal, it is our respon-
ministration secretly issued White House National Secu- world powers gave Iran bil- As the Obama administra- sibility to uphold ours, in
a license to let Iran sidestep rity Council spokesman, re- lions of dollars in sanctions tion pondered how to ad- both letter and spirit," Trea-
U.S. sanctions for the brief ferring to GOP lawmakers. relief in exchange for curb- dress Iran's complaints in sury Secretary Jack Lew
moment required to con- Still, the report by the Sen- ing its nuclear program. 2016, reports in The Associ- said in March 2016, without
vert the funds through an ate Permanent Subcom- The license issued to Bank ated Press and other me- offering details. That same
American bank, an investi- mittee on Investigations Muscat stood in stark con- dia outlets revealed that week, the AP reported
gation by Senate Republi- sheds light on the delicate trast to repeated pub- the U.S. was considering that the Treasury had pre-
cans released Wednesday balance the Obama ad- lic statements from the additional sanctions relief, pared a draft of a license
showed. The plan failed ministration sought to strike Obama White House, the including issuing licenses that would have given Iran
when two U.S. banks re- after the deal, as it worked Treasury and the State De- that would allow Iran lim- much broader permission
fused to participate. to ensure Iran received its partment, all of which de- ited transactions in dollars. to convert its assets from
Yet two years later, the rev- promised benefits without nied that the administration Democratic and Repub- foreign currencies into eas-
elation is re-igniting the bit- playing into the hands of was contemplating allow- lican lawmakers argued ier-to-spend currencies like
ter debate over the nucle- the deal's opponents. Amid ing Iran access to the U.S. against it throughout the euros, yen or rupees, by
ar deal and whether former a tense political climate, financial system. late winter, spring and sum- first exchanging them for
President Barack Obama Iran hawks in the U.S., Israel Yet almost immediately af- mer of 2016. They warned dollars at offshore financial
was too eager to grant and elsewhere argued that ter the sanctions relief took that unless Tehran was will- institutions.q
concessions to Tehran. the United States was giv-
"The Obama administration ing far too much to Tehran
misled the American peo- and that the windfall would
ple and Congress because be used to fund extremism
they were desperate to get and other troubling Iranian
a deal with Iran," said Sen. activity.
Rob Portman, R-Ohio, who The Treasury Department
chairs the Senate panel license, issued in February
that conducted the inves- 2016 and never disclosed,
tigation. would have allowed Iran to
And Republican Rep. Ed convert $5.7 billion it held
Royce, the House Foreign at Oman's Bank of Muscat
Affairs Committee chair- from Omani rials into euros
man, accused Obama of by exchanging them first
trying to "hide a secret push into dollars. If the Omani
to give the ayatollah ac- bank had allowed the ex-
cess to the U.S. dollar." change without such a
Not so, former Obama ad- license, it would have vio-
ministration officials said, ar- lated sanctions that bar
guing the decision to grant Iran from transactions that
the license adhered to the touch the U.S. financial sys-
spirt of the deal, which in- tem. The situation resulted
cluded allowing Iran to from the fact that Iran had
regain access to foreign stored billions in Omani ri-
reserves that had been off- als, a currency that's no-
limits because of U.S. sanc- toriously hard to convert.
tions. They said the public The U.S. dollar is the world's
assurances that Iran would dominant currency, so al-
be kept out were intended lowing it to be used as a
to dispel incorrect reports conversion instrument for
about nonexistent propos- Iranian assets was the easi-
als that would have gone est and most efficient way
much farther by letting Iran to speed up Iran's access
actually buy or sell things in to its own funds.
dollars. "Yikes," one former Treasury