Political Quotes

“Humanitarian trade, including agricultural commodities, food, medicine and medical products has long been specifically exempted by Congress from successive rounds of Iran sanctions legislation, as long as such trade is licensed by the Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC. With the sharp drop in the value of Iran's currency, and the worsening economic situation in Iran, it is becoming more apparent that U.S. financial sanctions targeting Iran's banking sector are causing increased concern among U.S. and other businesses, and banks of our allies engaged in such trade. The fear is that engaging in humanitarian trade in the current sanctions environment might lead to sanctions for legitimately licensed humanitarian trade. We must underscore with other countries and their banks that humanitarian trade with Iran is not subject to sanctions if it is appropriately licensed by OFAC. This has been a concern since the Senate first considered this bill and this concern still remains. It is not and has not been the intent of U.S. policy to harm the Iranian people by prohibiting humanitarian trade that is licensed by the U.S. Treasury Department, and we should do all we can to avoid this outcome. OFAC consistently issues many licenses, both general and specific, for this type of trade. The practical financing difficulties arising today between banks and those engaging in licensed humanitarian trade can be best addressed by U.S.…”