Trump seizes upon Obama-era license aimed at helping Iran 

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump today seized upon an investigation by Senate Republicans that found the Obama administration secretly tried to give Iran brief access to the US financial system after the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

This would have sidestepped US sanctions still in place.

Trump wrote on Twitter, incorrectly, that the efforts were "totally illegal" and called for an investigation.

The plan failed when two US banks refused to participate, but the Treasury Department's issuing of a license to allow Iran to convert USD 5.7 billion it held at a bank in Oman was not illegal.

Senate Republicans contend the Obama administration misled the American people because it had repeatedly promised Congress that Iran wouldn't gain access to America's financial system.

Trump withdrew from the landmark Iran nuclear deal last month.

Former Obama administration officials have said the decision to grant the license adhered to the spirt of the agreement, which included allowing Iran to regain access to foreign reserves that had been off-limits because of US sanctions.

They also dispute whether providing the momentary access to US banks to convert funds through the dollar constituted "access to the US financial system." Opponents of the Iran nuclear deal have said the US was too lenient with Iran and the windfall would have been used to fund extremism and other destabilizing activities.

The Treasury Department license, issued in February 2016 and never previously disclosed, would have allowed Iran to convert USD 5.7 billion it held at Oman's Bank of Muscat from Omani rials into euros by exchanging them first into 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 US financial system.