Washington – Despite the lifting of some sanctions on Iran early this year, much of Tehran’s holdings abroad remain frozen, and US and European businesses are reluctant to do business with Iran for fear of getting tangled in a thicket of US regulations, AFP report said on April 3.
A host of non-nuclear sanctions related to terrorism sponsorship, ballistic missile programs and political crackdowns remain in place and are unlikely to be removed any time soon.
The limited polls that are conducted in Iran also show skepticism about the country’s economic plight and America’s willingness to hold up to its side of the bargain.
Three decades of sanctions have hollowed out the Iranian economy.
According to a CISSM and IranPoll.com survey released Thursday, Iranians have a less favorable impression of the country’s economic situation now than they did before the deal came into effect in January.
While a majority of those polled back deeper economic engagement with the West, almost 70 percent do not believe the United States will meet its promises under the agreement.
Washington could remove restrictions on US and European firms trading in dollars with Iran, lifting a significant barrier to trade.
The move is likely to come with multiple caveats however — including limits to so-called U-turn transactions — thanks to fierce Congressional opposition.
“As Iran continues to undermine the spirit of its nuclear agreement with illicit ballistic missile tests, the Obama administration is going out of its way to help Tehran reopen for business,” said Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives Paul Ryan.
“The president should abandon this idea.”
Senators Marco Rubio and Mark Kirk wrote to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew earlier this week to voice their opposition.
The pair demanded assurances that “the United States will not issue a general license authorizing ’U-turn transactions’ for Iran, in which a US bank processes a transaction for a foreign financial institution on behalf of Iran while the Iranian part of the transaction does not touch the US financial system directly.”