Networks Ignore Report Obama Administration Gave Iran Access to U.S. Financial System
By Nicholas Fondacaro | June 6, 2018 9:18 PM EDT
According to a new Senate committee report out Wednesday, not only did the Obama administration give Iran tens of billions of dollars in seized assets through the nuclear deal but they also sought to facilitate the transfer of roughly $6 billion from Oman to Iran's radical Islamic regime.
Despite the report showing how the Obama administration lied in congressional oversight hearings about the access it would allow Iran, the liberal broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC) along with Spanish-language outlets Telemundo and Univision completely ignored the bombshell during their evening newscasts.
"The nuclear deal gave Iran access to its international bank accounts. One account in Oman held about $6 billion in local currency," Fox News Channel's Rich Edson explained on Special Report that evening. "To use it, the Iranians needed to convert that money first U.S. dollars, then to euros. The Obama administration was ready to help."
According to the Senate committee report, and noted by Edson, "the Obama administration bypassed existing sanctions and cleared the way for Iran to use the U.S. financial system." Obama administration officials, including then-Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, made impassioned declarations during congressional hearings proclaiming they would continue to bar Iran from working through the U.S. financial system.
"Iran will be denied access to the world's most important markets and unable to deal in the world's most important currency," acting Treasury Undersecretary Adam Szubin said in a clip from August 5, 2015.
Edson walked viewers through the Obama administration's shady process of helping Iran out, which included pressuring not one but two U.S. banks, who ended up not caving to them:
The report says that in January 2016 Iran complained about its nearly $6 billion stuck in an Oman bank. One month later, the Obama Treasury Department issued a license, allowing a transaction that federal government would otherwise prohibit. Officials then tried to persuade two U.S. banks to execute it. The report says, quote, "Both U.S. Banks eventually declined primarily due to the unwillingness to take on the legal and compliance risk. But also reputational concerns in doing business with a comprehensively sanctioned country like Iran."
"As for what happened to the $6 billion in Oman, the report says Iran likely retrieved it gradually using European banks," Edson concluded.
Ohio Republican Senator Rob Portman, chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which put out the report, shared his thoughts on why the Obama administration sought to help Iran. "I think they did so because they were desperate to get a deal," he said.
"So, on the one hand, they were saying that the Iranians were not going to get access to the American financial system. On the other hand, they actually granted Iran a specific license to allow them to take some of the funds that had been in escrow," Portman continued.
The network blackout of this damning nuclear deal news came a full day after they ignored Iran's announcement that they would be ramping up their uranium enrichment. It's the latest in a disturbing series of pro-Iran moves by these networks.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
FNC's Special Report
6:20:47 PM Eastern
SHANNON BREAM: A Republican Congressional report says the Obama administration deliberately misled Congress and the public in its efforts to funnel billions of dollars to Iran as part of the nuclear deal. Correspondent Rich Edson as the specifics tonight from the State Department.
[Cuts to video]
RICH EDSON: After signing the 2015 nuclear agreement, Iran had a $6 billion problem. The nuclear deal gave Iran access to its international bank accounts. One account in Oman held about $6 billion in local currency. To use it, the Iranians needed to convert that money first U.S. dollars, then to euros. The Obama administration was ready to help.
ROB PORTMAN: I think they did so because they were desperate to get a deal. So, on the one hand, they were saying that the Iranians were not going to get access to the American financial system. On the other hand, they actually granted Iran a specific license to allow them to take some of the funds that had been in escrow.
EDSON: A report from the Republican majority of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations says the Obama administration bypassed existing sanctions and cleared the way for Iran to use the U.S. financial system. Even as officials claimed that would never happen. The Senate report cites pledges, then-Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and other top administration officials.
ADAM SZUBIN (Acting Treasury Undersecretary): Iran will be denied access to the world's most important markets and unable to deal in the world's most important currency.
EDSON: The report says that in January 2016 Iran complained about its nearly $6 billion stuck in an Oman bank. One month later, the Obama Treasury Department issued a license, allowing a transaction that federal government would otherwise prohibit. Officials then tried to persuade two U.S. banks to execute it. The report says, quote, "Both U.S. Banks eventually declined primarily due to the unwillingness to take on the legal and compliance risk. But also reputational concerns in doing business with a comprehensively sanctioned country like Iran."
A former administration official refused to go on record, though tells Fox News the license fulfilled U.S. commitments under the nuclear agreement to, quote, "give Iran access to pools of its money held overseas. This specific license cannot be described as 'granting access to the U.S. financial system."
[Cuts back to live]
As for what happened to the $6 billion in Oman, the report says Iran likely retrieved it gradually using European banks. Shannon.
BREAM: All right, Rich Edson at the State Department. We'll have more on that coming up. Thank you.
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Nicholas Fondacaro
Nicholas C. Fondacaro is a News Analyst for the Media Research Center