We warned in 2016 that the Obama administration was “dollarizing the Ayatollahs” - turns out we were correct: cc: @jschanzer apnews.com/amp/27e8179cf1… wsj.com/articles/dolla…
We warned in 2016 that the Obama administration was “green lighting the greenback” (defenddemocracy.org/media-hit/dubo…). Turns out we were correct. cc: @afixler apnews.com/amp/27e8179cf1…
We warned about this in 2016: Dubowitz said administration's currency argument was "a bait & switch which ignores long-standing admin commitment not to greenlight Iran's access to the greenback. This is above & beyond what is required by the nuke deal.” en.annahar.com/article/344667…
Senate investigation now reveals that Obama administration was indeed “green lighting the greenback” & “dollarizing the Ayatollahs” on behalf of Iran as we had warned. Only the private sector fooled the USG scheme. apnews.com/amp/27e8179cf1…
“Obama administration secretly sought to give Iran access — albeit briefly — to the U.S. financial system by sidestepping sanctions kept in place after the 2015 nuclear deal, despite repeatedly telling Congress and the public it had no plans to do so.” apnews.com/amp/27e8179cf1…
“The effort was unsuccessful b/c US banks — afraid of running afoul of U.S. sanctions — declined to participate. Obama admin approached two U.S. banks to facilitate the conversion, report said, but both refused, citing the reputational risk of doing business with or for Iran.”
“The license issued to Bank Muscat stood in stark contrast to repeated public statements from the Obama White House, the Treasury and the State Department, all of which denied that the administration was contemplating allowing Iran access to the U.S. financial system.”
“Obama administration officials at the time assured concerned lawmakers that a general license wouldn't be coming. But the report from the Republican members of the Senate panel showed that a draft of the license was indeed prepared, though it was never published.”
“And when questioned by lawmakers about the possibility of granting Iran any kind of access to the U.S. financial system, Obama-era officials never volunteered that the specific license for Bank Muscat in Oman had been issued two months earlier.”
"The Obama administration misled the American people and Congress because they were desperate to get a deal with Iran," said Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, the subcommittee's chairman.
“One senior State Department official told an inquiring Iranian official that the administration had ‘exceeded our JCPOA commitments’ by issuing the license.”
weeklystandard.com/jenna-lifhits/…
weeklystandard.com/jenna-lifhits/…
That Senior State Department Official explained: such “transactions prohibited by US sanctions still in place & which we were clear we would remove as part of JCPOA. Nevertheless, as a gesture of support for Iran’s getting access, we helped on this as we will on other cases.”
“Report detailed efforts by Obama officials to drum up business for Iran including over 200 “roadshows” to encourage various countries to engage with Tehran. During one trip, report says, one US official signaled admin would not stringently punish every sanctions violation.”
