The United States says Iran’s economy has benefited from the removal of the nuclear sanctions that had been in place for several years before they were eventually lifted in January.
US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew has announced in a statement that the removal of the sanctions has enabled Iran to “drastically” increase its oil exports and has also set the stage for banks to operate in the country.
He also said the country has seen a more than $3 billion increase in planned foreign direct investment, AFP reported.
Iran saw a series of draconian economic sanctions lifted in mid-January when a nuclear deal that it had sealed with the P5+1 – the five permanent members of the Security Council plus Germany – was eventually implemented.
Nevertheless, the American banks are still banned from dealing with Iran as part of an old US trade embargo that still remains in place. Accordingly, this is believed to have already effectively blocked any transactions with Iran which is based on US dollars because they would ultimately have to be cleared in the US.
Lew emphasized that the administration of President Barack Obama has provided “clear instructions” to financial and commercial enterprises over their plans to do business with Iran in light of the technicalities that have emerged as a result of the remaining US sanctions against the country.
The comments by the US treasury secretary – as well as those by other officials in Washington – appear to be doing little to encourage the global business community to approach Iran’s investment opportunities.
On Tuesday, Sir Richard Dalton, the president of British-Iranian Chamber of Commerce, told Iran’s media that Washington needs to take “more practical steps” to assist bans in trading with Iran now that the sanctions against the country have been lifted.
Sir Dalton emphasized that the US needs to tell its banks “that in the context of lifting the sanctions, it is safe and welcomed for them to do business [in Iran].”
“There is still some work to get that message through to banks,” Dalton has told Iran’s IRNA news agency.