Green Energy
Fox:
Report: Treasury OK'd U.S. Business With Iran
WASHINGTON -- The Treasury Department has granted nearly 10,000 special licenses to American companies over the past decade so they could sell some types of products in Iran and other countries the U.S. considers terrorist sponsors, The New York Times reported Thursday.
Companies such as Kraft Food and Pepsi and some of the largest U.S. banks benefited, the newspaper said.
Most licenses were granted under a law allowing trade in humanitarian goods, even if that ended up including products as diverse as cigarettes and chewing gum.
The story posted on the Times' website implies no illegal activity by administration officials or company personnel. Rather, it suggests the various deals for goods ranging from Louisiana hot sauce to body-building supplements undermine America's moral and diplomatic authority as the leading purveyor of tough sanctions on Iran, North Korea and other nations.
The newspaper said one American company was allowed to bid on a pipeline job to help Iran sell natural gas to Europe even though the U.S. opposes such deals. Other American companies were permitted to deal with Iranian firms suspected of involvement in terrorism or weapons proliferation, the Times said.
"Allowing the export to Iran of food items like hot sauce or salad dressing from the U.S. is required by statute and, in any event, is trivial in the context of our Iran policy," Stuart Levey, the Obama administration's sanctions chief, said in a statement to The Associated Press late Thursday. "Our efforts are focused on matters like the illicit conduct of the Iranian government and financial institutions that are facilitating it."
Treasury officials noted that the permitted trade was inconsequential compared with the broad scope of U.S. sanctions, as goods sold to Iran amounted to only 0.02 percent of all U.S. exports in the first quarter of this year. And they were but a fraction of a percent of all Iranian imports, officials said.
Congress passed the law easing sanctions for some goods in 2000, largely with Cuba in mind.
Levey said those rare cases don't conflict with the larger American effort to apply international pressure on Iran, which is already facing four rounds of U.N. Security Council sanctions over its disputed uranium enrichment program. Instead, they are part of the attempt to ensure that sanctions don't affect the availability of food, medicine and medical devices to Iranian people as the U.S. pressures Tehran on the nuclear issue, alleged links to terrorism and missile programs
Kraft Food Inc. and PepsiCo Inc. didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.
Part of the problem is that in many countries facing U.S. or international sanctions, the government is a large player in the economy. The Times noted that the documents it obtained through a public records request showed the U.S. approved sale of luxury items to stores owned by blacklisted banks.
In response, administration officials said decisions are made on a case-by-case basis and reflect the realities of import chains, which can link some companies unwittingly to others.
"I haven't seen any licenses that I thought we should have done differently," Adam Szubin, the director of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, which grants the licenses, told the Times.
But he conceded that U.S. officials weren't fully investigating every importer.
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Green Energy
Aid and Comfort
Fox:
Report: Treasury OK'd U.S. Business With Iran
WASHINGTON -- The Treasury Department has granted nearly 10,000 special licenses to American companies over the past decade so they could sell some types of products in Iran and other countries the U.S. considers terrorist sponsors, The New York Times reported Thursday.
Companies such as Kraft Food and Pepsi and some of the largest U.S. banks benefited, the newspaper said.
Most licenses were granted under a law allowing trade in humanitarian goods, even if that ended up including products as diverse as cigarettes and chewing gum.
The story posted on the Times' website implies no illegal activity by administration officials or company personnel. Rather, it suggests the various deals for goods ranging from Louisiana hot sauce to body-building supplements undermine America's moral and diplomatic authority as the leading purveyor of tough sanctions on Iran, North Korea and other nations.
The newspaper said one American company was allowed to bid on a pipeline job to help Iran sell natural gas to Europe even though the U.S. opposes such deals. Other American companies were permitted to deal with Iranian firms suspected of involvement in terrorism or weapons proliferation, the Times said.
"Allowing the export to Iran of food items like hot sauce or salad dressing from the U.S. is required by statute and, in any event, is trivial in the context of our Iran policy," Stuart Levey, the Obama administration's sanctions chief, said in a statement to The Associated Press late Thursday. "Our efforts are focused on matters like the illicit conduct of the Iranian government and financial institutions that are facilitating it."
Treasury officials noted that the permitted trade was inconsequential compared with the broad scope of U.S. sanctions, as goods sold to Iran amounted to only 0.02 percent of all U.S. exports in the first quarter of this year. And they were but a fraction of a percent of all Iranian imports, officials said.
Congress passed the law easing sanctions for some goods in 2000, largely with Cuba in mind.
Levey said those rare cases don't conflict with the larger American effort to apply international pressure on Iran, which is already facing four rounds of U.N. Security Council sanctions over its disputed uranium enrichment program. Instead, they are part of the attempt to ensure that sanctions don't affect the availability of food, medicine and medical devices to Iranian people as the U.S. pressures Tehran on the nuclear issue, alleged links to terrorism and missile programs
Kraft Food Inc. and PepsiCo Inc. didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.
Part of the problem is that in many countries facing U.S. or international sanctions, the government is a large player in the economy. The Times noted that the documents it obtained through a public records request showed the U.S. approved sale of luxury items to stores owned by blacklisted banks.
In response, administration officials said decisions are made on a case-by-case basis and reflect the realities of import chains, which can link some companies unwittingly to others.
"I haven't seen any licenses that I thought we should have done differently," Adam Szubin, the director of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, which grants the licenses, told the Times.
But he conceded that U.S. officials weren't fully investigating every importer.
- Obama Admin Announces They’ve Started Easing Sanctions On Iran Despite Vows To Destroy Israel
From Reuters: (Reuters) – The United States on Monday eased some sanctions on Iran, pausing efforts to reduce Iranian crude oil exports, as part of a nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers that went into effect. The Treasury Department said...
-
Newsmax: Turkey Says It Seized Illegal Iran Arms Shipment Thursday, 31 Mar 2011 03:58 PM UNITED NATIONS — Turkey has informed a U.N. Security Council panel that it seized a cache of weapons Iran was attempting to export in breach of a U.N. arms embargo,...
- Swiss Neutrality Is An Economic Niche: Switzerland Signs $28 Billion Gas Deal With Iran
America does not buy from Iran, because Iran is an evil state. America did not buy from Iraq, for the same reason. The Swiss, meanwhile, will hide behind their mask of neutrality, so they can do business with anybody. Fuck the "Neutral" Swiss: Swiss...
- Well, Of Course, What Do You Expect? It's Europe
Europe resists America's Call To Curb Ties With Iran: European governments are resisting Bush administration demands that they curtail support for exports to Iran and that they block transactions and freeze assets of some Iranian companies, officials...
- Some More Information About Uae
Update from Global Security Newswire, February 16, 2006: U.S. Watches Dubai Banks for Proliferation Ties "WASHINGTON — U.S. Treasury Department representatives are monitoring the possibility that money flowing through banks in Dubai, United Arab Emirates,...