A concession in the Iran nuclear deal that allows "tens of billions of dollars" in commerce backed by the U.S. to flow into the Middle East nation cannot proceed without breaking federal statutes,
Fox News reports.
Senior U.S. officials point to a section of the nuclear deal that says in exchange for compliance, the foreign subsidiaries of U.S. parent companies will be allowed to do business with Iran.
But Fox News says the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act (ITRA), which President Barack Obama passed in 2012, closed "foreign sub" loopholes that would allow that business.
Sources in the Obama administration told the network Secretary of State John Kerry will have the loophole interpreted as liberally as possible by federal lawyers.
The conflict leaves two options: violate the ITRA, and let foreign subsidiaries be treated differently than U.S. firms, or treat both as the same, but still break the ITRA's requirement that Iran be taken off the State Department terror list as a condition for any licensing.
The second possibility could cause major problems.
Fox News says that in a speech last month, Adam Szubin, acting Under Secretary of Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Crimes, said Iran is "the world's foremost sponsor of terrorism."
He added that existing U.S. sanctions on the regime "will continue to be enforced ... U.S. investment in Iran will be prohibited across the board."
Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, a Republican presidential candidate, told Fox News the re-opening of the loophole is in line with the Obama administration's selective enforcing of federal laws.
"It's a problem that the president doesn't have the ability to wave a magic wand and make go away. Any U.S. company that follows through on this, that allows their foreign-owned subsidiaries to do business with Iran, will very likely face substantial civil liability, litigation and potentially even criminal prosecution," Cruz told Fox.
"The obligation to follow federal law doesn't go away simply because we have a lawless president who refuses to acknowledge or follow federal law."
On Wednesday, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei banned all further negotiations between Iran and the U.S., just months after the inking of the nuclear deal, which ends financial sanctions against Iran in exchange for its nuclear capabilities being curtailed.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.