US House Speaker Expresses ‘Strong’ Opposition to Iran’s Access to Dollar

According to FCN, citing Voice of America Persian, the Republican Speaker of the US House of Representatives on Thursday opposed any measure in Iran’s commercial transactions that would help the country gain access to US dollars.

Following the implementation of the comprehensive nuclear agreement between Iran and the international community last December and the lifting of some Iranian sanctions, Republicans have expressed concerns about Tehran’s potential access to the American financial system and the use of the dollar in its foreign transactions.

According to Reuters, Paul Ryan, referring to the fact that such action would allow Tehran to do whatever it wants, said “This is one of the reasons I am strongly opposed to any measure by the (US) government that might allow Iran to have access to the dollar.”

This comes as senior US government officials have previously emphasized that while Washington, under the JCPOA framework, will not prevent other countries’ banks from conducting transactions with Iranian banks that are no longer targeted by sanctions, it will not grant Tehran access to the American financial system.

Thomas Shannon, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, in late April in a hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee emphasized that such permission would not be granted to Tehran under the guise of sanction reduction within the nuclear agreement framework.