That's what a Republican-authored report says:
A new Senate GOP-authored report alleges that top officials in the Obama administration secretly authorized Iran to convert assets to the U.S. dollar, even after the officials repeatedly assured Congress that no such financial transactions would take place under the 2015 nuclear deal. ...
"Senior U.S. government officials repeatedly testified to Congress that Iranian access to the U.S. financial system was not on the table or part of any deal," the report reads.
"Despite these claims, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, at the direction of the U.S. State Department, granted a specific license that authorized a conversion of Iranian assets worth billions of U.S. dollars using the U.S. financial system," it continues.
The banks approached didn't want to go along. Good for them.
But it is fascinating that the idiotic Iran nuclear deal that front-loaded benefits to Iran in order to keep America in the deal in the (futile) hopes that America would reap benefits of the deal down the line had to be secretly undermined by our government to further help Iran.
Rather than cementing in the nuclear deal by giving Iran benefits up front--including pallets of cash--apparently the structure of the deal just gave Iran the chance to ask the Obama administration "what have you done for us lately to keep us happy?"
As I read the article, I thought maybe the Obama administration pretended to pressure banks knowing that the banks would refuse, in order to curry favor with Iran. Ignoring the horrible deal itself, that would be understandable. But that wasn't what happened. It was a real effort.
Assuming the report is accurate. But my reaction certainly isn't "no way would the Obama administration have done something like that!"
