New York, NY - United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) CEO, Ambassador Mark D. Wallace, issued the following statement today regarding the actions of the U.S. Treasury Department this week, which include new designations and enforcement against Iran sanctions violators, an Op-Ed in yesterday's Wall Street Journal by Treasury Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David Cohen, "We're Not Easing Sanctions on Iran," and a speech by Treasury Secretary Jack Lew to the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee last night:
We respect and admire our friends and former colleagues in government that serve in the Treasury Department, including Secretary Lew and Undersecretary Cohen, and we applaud today's designations, which we hope are a first step towards more. Secretary Lew, Undersecretary Cohen, and their colleagues are great public servants, deserving of our bipartisan respect. We especially welcome Secretary Lew's comments that the Geneva agreement "does nothing to undo or weaken the core architecture of our sanctions regime."
We respectfully and fundamentally disagree, however, with the premise being put forward this week, that "Iran will be even deeper in the hole six months from now, when the deal expires, than it is today." The reality is that overall economic pressure on Iran has eased since Rouhani's election, and will continue to ease as the interim deal--which specifically includes sanctions relief--goes into effect.
With the election of President Rouhani, Iran has pursued one objective: sanctions relief. The Obama administration fully understands this, and--in Geneva--promised Iran sanctions relief. As
The New York Times reported: "the Obama administration is gambling that the gradual relaxation of punishing sanctions will whet Tehran's appetite for greater economic relief, inducing the country's leaders to negotiate a further deal to roll back its nuclear progress."
This week, Treasury is asserting the contrary: that economic pressure will actually increase during the next six months and deepen Iran's sanctions-induced economic crisis. We are incredulous, especially since economic enforcement has been so scant during the period between Rouhani's election and today.
Our experiences dealing with countless businesses and dozens of countries contradict Undersecretary Cohen's descriptions of the economic climate in Iran since Rouhani's election. Key indicators show that Iran's economy has greatly improved, as evidenced by at least the following:
- The rial has increased in value more than 25%.
- The Tehran Stock Exchange index has increased by nearly 100%, from about 45,000 points to 86,500 points today.
- By the end of November, inflation had decreased from 43% to 36% and continues to fall.
- There have been numerous reports and firsthand accounts of Iran's automotive and energy sectors anticipating the return of major multinational corporations. Reputational risk for companies has clearly declined.
- Overall, the psychological impact of international sanctions on the Iranian economy has been reversed, as Iranian confidence in the rial, its stock exchange, and local commerce has soared.
The foregoing has occurred before implementation of the Geneva interim agreement, which actually promises real sanctions relief such as "paus[ing] efforts to further reduce Iran's crude oil sales," "suspend[ing] U.S. and EU sanctions on Iran's petrochemical exports ... gold and precious metals ... [and] auto industry," and "refrain[ing] from imposing new nuclear-related sanctions."
These undeniable and core facts related to the improving Iranian economy and the sanctions relief agreed to in Geneva clearly contradict Undersecretary Cohen. Moreover, the Undersecretary's assurances that sanctions and pressure are about to increase directly conflict with the commitment and statements Secretary Kerry, the State Department, and President Obama have made to our P5+1 partners and Iran. We call on President Obama to clarify whether sanctions and pressure on Iran will increase or decrease over the next six months.
To be clear, we fully support ever-increasing pressure on Iran's economy unless and until Iran ceases its pursuit of the capacity to build a nuclear bomb. We prefer Treasury's view and hope Secretaries Lew and Cohen prove our skepticism wrong. At this point, however, their words simply do not comport with the facts on the ground in Iran, or the statements of policy made by Secretary Kerry and President Obama. Most fundamentally, we believe the administration's statements to Iran, the international community, and the American people should all convey the same policy.
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