U.S. Policy

Remarks of President Obama Marking Nowruz      Today, Michelle and I extend our best wishes to all those who are celebrating Nowruz around the world.  In communities and homes from America to southwest Asia, families and friends are coming together to celebrate the hope that comes with renewal…
Fact Sheet: Treasury interpretive guidance and statement of licensing policy on internet freedom in Iran  WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) today issued guidance and licensing information to further support the free flow of…
On March 15, the global financial service, SWIFT, decided to cut ties with Iranian banks. The following is SWIFT’s statement. See below for a statement by the Treasury Under Secretary David S. Cohen.   Brussels, 15 March 2012 – Following an EU Council decision, SWIFT is today…
     At a joint White House press conference on March 14, President Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron commented on the new diplomatic effort with Iran by the world’s six major powers.      President Obama:     We also discussed the continuing threat posed by Iran’s failure to meet its…
President Obama commented extensively on Iran at a White House news conference on March 6, 2012. "Because sanctions are starting to have significant effect inside of Iran -- and that's not just my assessment, that's, I think, a uniform assessment -- because the sanctions are going to be even…
On March 7, the Treasury Department designated Iranian Qods Force General overseeing Afghan Heroin trafficking through Iran. The following is the Treasury Department’s statement. WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of the Treasury today designated Iranian Islamic Revolutionary…
On Feb. 19, Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey made the following comments on Iran in an interview on CNN’s GPS with Fareed Zakaria.   On Iran’s nuclear intentions We also know, or believe we know, that the Iranian regime has not decided that they will embark on the [...] effort…
On Feb. 16, the State Department issued the following statement on Iran:Today the United States Government took three separate sanctions actions against Iran’s primary intelligence agency, the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS). MOIS was designated for its involvement in the…
The following is an excerpt of President Obama’s statement on new U.S. sanctions on Iran’s Central Bank. I have determined that additional sanctions are warranted, particularly in light of the deceptive practices of the Central Bank of Iran and other Iranian banks to conceal…
On Jan. 26, the State Department issued the following statement on Iran. We are deeply concerned by the alarming increase in the Iranian regime’s efforts to extinguish all forms of free expression and limit its citizens’ access to information in the lead-up to March…