In comments today after another meeting with his Iranian counterpart, Secretary of State John Kerry said foreign banks should feel perfectly comfortable doing business with Iran after the implementation of the P5+1 nuclear deal, saying there had been “some confusion” but that the USS was committed to living up to it’s end of the pact.
Iran has been pushing the US for such statements for weeks, noting that they’re having a hard time accessing their “unfrozen” assets. Several EU officials have also complained that the lack of clarity from the US was preventing them from making deals with Iran, and British officials confirmed that they couldn’t find a single major UK bank willing to go on a trade delegation to Iran.
Kerry insists the administration is willing to further clarify any questions, but that international companies should not assume that the old rules remain in place, or that deals US companies would be banned from doing are forbidden to them.
Questions are likely to remain irrespective of Kerry’s comments, as the State Department has repeatedly suggested such things, while the US Treasury Department has bragged about how much of the sanctions regime has remained in place.
If the US had not destroyed its reputation for integrity and honesty Kerry’s statement would be enough. Those days are long gone.