U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is calling for further investigation into the Obama administration’s relationship with Iran following a Senate report that purportedly revealed that the Obama administration secretly authorized Iranian access to the U.S. financial system.
A report published by Republican senators on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations claims that the Obama administration gave Iran brief access to the U.S. financial system as part of the Iranian nuclear deal, despite telling Congress that such access would be banned under the agreement.
“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 said.
However, despite the claims, the Treasury Department under the direction of the 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,” according to the report.
The report further noted that a “special license” was issued in February 2016 to allow Iran to briefly convert about $5.7 billion worth of Iranian assets frozen in an Omani bank from rials to dollars, which would then be converted into euros. However, U.S. banks balked at the transfer, despite encouragement from U.S. officials, and it never took place.
“The Obama Iran nuclear deal was a devil’s bargain, but one exclusively designed to help the devil,” Cruz said in a statement. “The Obama administration covertly greased the nuclear deal with bribes and secret agreements that made it even worse for America.
“Now a Senate investigation has revealed the Obama administration was even working in secret to circumvent the weaker sanctions left over from the nuclear deal—and they were lying to Congress about it,” continued Cruz. “They subordinated American law and the U.S. financial system to the deal, hatching a scheme that would have put the U.S. dollar and U.S. banks to work moving money for the Iranians. We owe it to the American people to get to the bottom of whatever else the Obama administration sacrificed at the altar of the Iran deal.”
