i am sick of republican misleading and our MIA liberal media not making clear what the republicans are misinforming. these are excerpts that make it clear we are not reaching in out back pocket and giving Iran 150 billion of our money. i've said in other articles it's their money to start with.
A principal argument opponents raise against the nuclear agreement with Iran is that it would release at least $100 billion in impounded funds that Tehran could then use for attacks against the West and others. But exactly how much money the Iranians would actually receive and how they would use it, should the accord survive, remain difficult and unresolved questions.
The money sits in foreign banks, out of Iran’s reach. Estimates of the sum that could become available to Iran range from $29 billion to as much as $150 billion.
Accumulated partly from Iranian sales of oil and other goods, the money is one of the most important, and perhaps misunderstood, components of the nuclear deal reached last month.
The money has been impounded for years in accounts in China, India, South Korea and other Iranian trading partners because of American sanctions that would penalize those countries if Iran were permitted access. Under the accord, Iran could reclaim the money by complying with verifiable guarantees that Iranian nuclear work is peaceful.
Opponents of the accord, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and leading Republicans in Congress, have described the money as a windfall, a jackpot and a signing bonus, valuing it at the upper end of the estimates. Some contend that the money may not even rightfully belong to Iran and is more analogous to the seized booty of a drug cartel.
Moreover, they argue, once the accord takes effect, there is nothing to stop Iran from using the money to strengthen its strategic military allies, including Hezbollah of Lebanon and Hamas of Gaza, regarded by the United States and Israel as terrorist groups.
Some also say Iranian officials will immediately seek to move much of the money into their country, putting it out of reach should sanctions be reinstituted under the nuclear agreement’s so-called snapback provisions for violations.
Proponents of the accord, led by the Obama administration, say the total amount is much less than critics are asserting and would not be quickly accessible, a process that could take months.
“There is no ‘signing bonus,’ ” said Adam J. Szubin, the acting under secretary of the Treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence, in testimony about the accord on Wednesday to the Senate Banking Committee.
Mr. Szubin estimated that Iran has $100 billion to $125 billion in foreign exchange assets worldwide, but that “our assessment is that Iran’s usable liquid assets after sanctions relief will be much lower, at little more than $50 billion.”republicans and their real right wing leaning media keep saying "we are giving them 150 billion" like it's us paying them and i have yet to hear anyone say it's their money we sanctioned and threaten other countries if the released it which begs to question who's who here???????????????
He echoed what his boss, Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew, said in testimony on July 28 to the House Foreign Affairs Committee, arguing that Iran has pre-existing financial obligations that must be satisfied with much of the impounded money, leaving roughly $56 billion left.
The obligations include delayed payments to creditors, including China, one of Iran’s biggest trading partners.
“I am not going to say $56 billion is not a lot of money, but it’s not $150 billion, and it cannot be all used because they need to keep some foreign reserves to run their economy,” Mr. Lew said.
He also sought to refute critics who assert that Iran would almost certainly use the money nefariously, arguing that Iran’s leaders face urgent economic problems.
“We can’t say that there won’t be any more money going toward malign purposes,” he said. “But the order of magnitude is way, way smaller, and it’s in line with the kinds of spending they have been doing anyway.”
Critics of the agreement have challenged the administration’s lower estimate of sanctions money, and what they call its imprecise accounting.
Mark D. Wallace, chief executive of United Against Nuclear Iran, a New York-based advocacy group that had sought more stringent sanctions on Iran, said he put the estimate of available Iranian money under the agreement’s sanctions relief at closer to the $100 billion figure commonly cited by the pact’s opponents.
“Are they going to write a $50 billion check to Hezbollah? No,” Mr. Wallace said. Still, he said, “some of the facts of this deal, the American people are finding troubling.”we are being misled and even the WH has not set the facts straight i will never understand their unwillingness to inform us especially when the truth is on their side.
Last week, Valiollah Seif, the governor of Iran’s central bank, said that of roughly $77 billion held abroad, only $29 billion would be usable because the rest had already been committed to petrochemical investments or as collateral for Chinese-financed development projects.
But that could have been an attempt to dampen public expectations, Dr. Vaez said.
“The Iranian government is coming under intense lobbying by different interest groups who are seeking to earmark these resources,” Dr. Vaez said in an email. The fear, he said, is that efforts to invest the money wisely “could drown in the swamp of pent-up public expectations of rapid economic recovery.”hard to make their fear mongering work without lying and over embellishing the truth the republicans opt to fear monger and deceive rather than do what they keep trying to convince us Pres. is not doing, being truthful with the American people"..........
BTW hostages released, UN says Iran met deal obligation but do you really thing republicans will salute this achievement don't hold your breath, be prepared for all Pres. has done to date for republicans to tear it down and take the country back out of their own mouths if we are stupid enough to allow them access to the gov't that is supposed to be "by and for the people, us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
update listening to MSNBC while typing just heard Eamon Javers say " it's their money" truth in reporting praise the Lord.
