The Obama Administration Went Out Of Its Way To Secretly Help Iran

“Nothing to see here, move along everyone!” -Obama right now, probably.

Too bad. We’re not doing it, because there’s a WHOLE LOT to see.

According to this, the Obama administration “secretly sought to give Iran access — albeit briefly — to the U.S. financial system by sidestepping sanctions kept in place after the 2015 nuclear deal, despite repeatedly telling Congress and the public it had no plans to do so.”

The report by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations revealed that under President Barack Obama, the Treasury Department issued a license in February 2016, never previously disclosed, that would have allowed Iran to convert $5.7 billion it held at a bank in Oman from Omani rials into euros by exchanging them first into U.S. dollars. If the Omani bank had allowed the exchange without such a license, it would have violated sanctions that bar Iran from transactions that touch the U.S. financial system.

“…never previously disclosed…” Allow me to translate that for you: THEY LIED. The Obama administration deliberately went out of its way to try to help Iran.

The effort was unsuccessful because American banks — themselves afraid of running afoul of U.S. sanctions — declined to participate. The Obama administration approached two U.S. banks to facilitate the conversion, the report said, but both refused, citing the reputational risk of doing business with or for Iran.

“The Obama administration misled the American people and Congress because they were desperate to get a deal with Iran,” said Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, the subcommittee’s chairman.

Issuing the license was not illegal. Still, it went above and beyond what the Obama administration was required to do under the terms of the nuclear agreement.

Again. I just want to make this crystal clear. The Obama administration went out of its way, attempting to jump around its own sanctions in order to assist the country that routinely shouts, “Death to America.” The only reason this “assistance” didn’t happen? US banks wanted nothing to do with it.

I love how Ben Shapiro summed this up.

We keep hearing that the Trump administration is historically dishonest. But the same press saying so largely overlooked and in many cases actively covered for Team Obama’s dishonesty on the Iran deal, beyond even covering for Team Obama’s rampant dishonesty on issues ranging from Libya to Obamacare. Obama goes around bragging that his administration was scandal-free. That’s factually untrue. But his administration was largely criticism-free thanks to a media replete with his supporters.

Exactly. That’s the difference.

h/t Daily Wire