John Kerry: US won't block foreign business deals under nuke deal

The Obama administration is trying to address Iranian complaints that US financial regulations are denying Iran the sanctions relief it deserves under last year’s landmark nuclear deal.

Meeting with Iran’s foreign minister yesterday, Secretary of State John Kerry said the United States would not stand in the way of foreign banks or firms doing business with Iranian companies that are no longer subject to US sanctions.

Kerry also said the administration was willing to further clarify what transactions are now permitted with Iran and urged foreign financial institutions to seek answers from US officials if they have questions.

They should not assume, he said, that was once prohibited is still prohibited. Nor, he added, should they assume that transactions with Iran that remain illegal for US companies are illegal for foreign firms.

Kerry’s remarks, which came at the start of his second meeting this week with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, were an attempt to resolve confusion about what is permitted under the nuclear deal in which Iran agreed to curb its atomic program in exchange for billions in sanctions relief.

Iran, as well as foreign banks and governments, have been clamoring for clarity, but it was not clear that Kerry’s remarks would provide it.

“The United States is not standing in the way and will not stand in the way of business that is permitted with Iran since the (nuclear deal) took effect,” Kerry said, reading carefully from a prepared text.

“We’ve lifted our nuclear-related sanctions as we committed to do and there are now opportunities for foreign banks to do business with Iran. Unfortunately, there seems to be some confusion among foreign banks and we want to try to clarify that as much as we can.”

The areas needing clarification, he said, include access to funds and financing for foreign firms to do business with Iran along with Iran’s access to its own money, which had been frozen abroad under the nuclear sanctions. Access to all of these is permitted, Kerry said.

“We have no objection (to) foreign banks engaging with Iranian banks and companies, obviously as long as those banks and companies are not on our sanctions list for non-nuclear reasons,” he said.

Kerry, however, stressed that the confusion and remaining US sanctions on Iran imposed for its ballistic missile tests, human rights abuses and support for terrorism are not the only reasons for foreign reluctance to do business with Iran. He cited the fragility and questionable integrity of Iran’s banking system as well as other behavior that gives business executives pause about jumping into the Iranian market.