Iran not gaining access to US financial system: US official

US State Department Undersecretary for Political Affairs Thomas Shannon testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, April 5, 2016.

The US administration of President Barack Obama is not planning to allow Iran access to the American financial system or use of the dollar for transactions, according to a senior US official.

A senior US State Department official on Tuesday told senators in Congress that reports about Iran being allowed to deal directly with US banks are inaccurate.

"The rumors and news that have appeared in the press ... are not true," Thomas Shannon, the US undersecretary of state for political affairs, told a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing.

Shannon insisted that the United States would maintain sanctions pressure on the Islamic Republic over it ballistic missile tests, support of Islamic resistance groups and human rights “violations.”

A group of Republican senators last month unveiled legislation that requires the administration to sanction every sector of Iran's economy that supports the country's ballistic missile program.

Washington has already come under fire from Tehran for dragging its feet on the removal of sanctions against Iran, under a landmark nuclear deal.

Iran and the P5+1 finalized the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in Vienna, Austria, on July 14, 2015. They started to implement the JCPOA on January 16, 2016.

Under the agreement, limits are put on Iran’s nuclear activities in exchange for, among other things, the removal of all nuclear-related economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic.


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