Granted by the Obama administration was a license letting Iran access the United States financial system; despite officials’ pledges that would prohibit it, according to a draft report from the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.
The Treasury Department issued a specific license to Bank Muscat on February 24, 2016, authorizing the conversion of Iran’s rials to euros through ‘any United States depository institution …,’” said the draft report. “Even after the specific license was issued, U.S. government officials maintained in congressional testimony that Iran would not be granted access to the U.S. financial system.” (Continued Below)
Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio) said “The Obama administration during the negotiation of the Iran deal misled the American people. I think they did so because they were desperate to get a deal.”
According to the subcommittee, when the nations involved in the Iran nuclear agreement implemented the deal, Iran had $5.7 billion in assets at Bank Muscat in Muscat, Oman, maintained as Omani rials. The report stated that Iran wanted to access that money, and using the U.S. financial system to convert it “was the most efficient means, even though U.S. sanctions prohibited it.”
The report went on to say that government officials tried to convince two U.S. banks to execute the conversion. They both declined, citing the complexity and the unwanted appearance involved in processing an Iranian transaction.
A senior State Department official said he believed Bank Muscat and Iran eventually used European banks to convert the funds without a compliant American bank. (Continued Below)
In a nut shell, Barack Obama’s administration reportedly misled Congress — and the American people — about a crucial element of the Iran nuclear deal.
A license is an authorization from [Treasury] to engage in a transaction that otherwise would be prohibited.
It’s a big claim. The Iran deal had the US lift certain sanctions on Tehran in exchange for Iranians curbing their nuclear program. But the US didn’t remove every penalty after signing the agreement in 2015 — meaning that Iran’s access to the US financial system was still limited. (Continued Below)
Senator Ted Cruz responded to reports of Obama administration secretly authorizing Iranian access to U.S. Financial System:
“The Obama Iran nuclear deal was a devil’s bargain, but one exclusively designed to help the devil. The Obama administration covertly greased the nuclear deal with bribes and secret agreements that made it even worse for America. Over the years we’ve discovered some of them: There was the nuclear side deal to let Iran inspect itself. There was the ransom deal that gave Iran $1.7 billion in cash. There were several wire transfers from America to Iran, ranging from roughly $1 million to $10 million, including a purchase of excess nuclear-related material that Iran never should have been producing and America did not need from them.
“Now a Senate investigation has revealed the Obama administration was even working in secret to circumvent the weaker sanctions left over from the nuclear deal – and they were lying to Congress about it. They subordinated American law and the U.S. financial system to the deal, hatching a scheme that would have put the U.S. dollar and U.S. banks to work moving money for the Iranians.
“We owe it to the American people to get to the bottom of whatever else the Obama administration sacrificed at the altar of the Iran deal. It is well past time to make available all of the many unclassified documents outlining what Iran was actually promised. What other secret agreements were there? What other things were companies encouraged to do? What other officials were involved in schemes to subvert American sanctions? I intend to work with my colleagues to redouble our efforts to find out.”
(Continued Below)
Sen Ted Cruz tweeted his response for all to see:
https://twitter.com/SenTedCruz/status/1004493060191997952
This is another stunning rotten layer of “Obama’s Legacy” uncovered and speaks volumes for him and his administration. What do you think about this being brought to the light? Do you think the mainstream media will try to hide it and protect him?
Let us know what you think, and SHARE the news!
(H/T Fox News)
