Foreign units of US companies can trade with Iran: US Treasury

Foreign subsidiaries of American companies are now allowed to trade with Iran following the removal of US economic sanctions on the Islamic Republic, says the US Treasury Department.

The decision was made Saturday after President Barack Obama signed an executive order lifting US economic sanctions on Iran following an announcement by the International Atomic Energy Agency that Tehran has implemented its commitments made in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Iran and the P5+1 - the United States, France, Britain, Russia, China and Germany - finalized the text of the JCPOA in Vienna, Austria, on July 14, 2015.

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

The US Treasury Department said Saturday that the American companies will have the chance of gaining a toehold in the Islamic Republic.

Although American citizens and companies remained banned from trading with Iran, with few exceptions, US parent companies can now provide technology systems, such as email and accounting software, to units which are active in Iran.

Foreign subsidiaries of US companies were banned from operating in Iran after Congress expanded sanctions on Tehran in 2012.

However, the Treasury Department now allows "the sale of US origin aircraft, parts and services exclusively for commercial passenger aviation to Iran; the import of Iranian-origin carpets and foodstuff; and certain activities conducted by foreign subsidiaries of US companies."

According to one of the documents the Department released on Saturday, “the following activities by non-US persons are no longer sanctionable: Financial and banking transactions with individuals and entities set out in Attachment 3 to Annex II of the JCPOA, including: the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) and other specified Iranian financial institutions; the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), the Naftiran Intertrade Company (NICO), the National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC), and other specified individuals and entities."

A senior Obama administration official has said that the sanctions were lifted from more than 400 individuals and entities, however, some 200 people related to Iran are still on the sanction list.

The illegal sanctions on Iran had been imposed based on the unfounded accusation that Tehran is pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program.

Iran has always rejected the allegation, arguing that as a committed signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and a member of the IAEA, it has the right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

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