US officials are denying Iranian government complaints that they aren’t following through on the P5+1 requirement to lift sanctions, saying they are not in any way blocking foreign banks from doing business with Iran.
Though US banks are still barred from doing business with Iran, Iranian officials have been complaining recently that foreign banks are also afraid to process deals for them over fear that the US government will punish them for doing so.
The banks are citing a lack of communication from the US on any changes to policy, and are subsequently assuming that previous threats to punish all foreign banks doing business with Iran are still in place, leading Iran to conclude that the sanctions relief is only happening “on paper.”
State Department officials say they have been making the rounds to “top business leaders” in some countries to assure them that the US is complying with the terms of the P5+1 nuclear deal. The banks, however, seem to be waiting for an explicit assurance that banking policy has changed, and the US seems reluctant to offer that.
Or these bankers are acting on their own accord and just ignoring whatever the feds tell them.
Or the bankers are waiting until the new President/Administration are ushered in to see whether things will return to pre-nuclear-deal policies as promised by nearly all of the candidates.
You could mistake the Treasury group in charge of Iranian financial sanctions for a minyan reciting the Kaddish. Don’t have any doubts they are doing everything they can to scare away any non-US banks from doing business with Iran.