President says steps are being taken to help the Islamic Republic conduct international business
President Barack Obama
speaks at a news conference on Friday to close the 2016 Nuclear
Security Summit at the Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C.
Photo:
michael reynolds/European Pressphoto Agency
WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama said Friday that the U.S. and its
allies are taking steps to help Iran benefit from a landmark nuclear
agreement reached last year, including moves to facilitate trade and
banking transactions for the Islamic Republic.
“Some of the
concerns that Iran has expressed, we are going to work with them to
address,” Mr. Obama said at a news conference following a summit on
nuclear security.
The U.S. Treasury Department is specifically
seeking to set clearer investment guidelines for Iran following the
removal of most international sanctions on the country in January.
European
and Asian bankers have said that business in Iran has been particularly
stymied by the inability of foreign banks to conduct U.S.
dollar-denominated transactions with the country. Most major
international business, particularly in the oil-and-gas sector, is
conducted in dollars.
U.S. officials said the Obama administration could assist Iran in concluding such bank transactions.
These
officials said Iran wouldn’t be allowed to directly enter the U.S.
financial system, due to legislation that continues to ban any direct
business between American and Iranian banks.
“It is not necessary
that we take the approach of them going through dollar-denominated
transactions,” Mr. Obama said. “It is possible for them to work through
European financial institutions as well.”
Iranian officials have
publicly complained that they haven’t benefited enough from the nuclear
agreement, citing continued fears about U.S. sanctions.
Mr. Obama
said Iran’s absence from global trade could mean that it will take a
while for the country to attract foreign investment. He said Iran’s
destabilizing activities in the Middle East, including recent
ballistic-missile tests, won’t help Iran’s business fortunes.
“It’s
going to take time over the next several months for companies and their
legal departments to feel confident that, in fact, there may not be
risks of liability if they do business with Iran,” Mr. Obama said.
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