Iran Analysis: Why Current US "Smart Sanctions" Aren't Very Smart (Kashani/Sadra)
The goal of sanctions was never, at least explicitly, to target the Iranian people, let alone the Iranian diaspora. The economic sanctions were set up with the understanding that there are approximately one million Iranian Americans residing in the United States, and that regardless of a long-running governmental spat and resultant commercial economic embargoes, the practicalities of life dictate that money will need to be transferred to settle estates or to provide assistance to family members.
Accordingly, our laws allow for remittances involving noncommercial transfers, among family members in the United States and Iran, and undertaken within the banking system. However, this obviously breaks down when there are no banks willing to receive wire transfers from even the nonsanctioned, private Iranian banks.
M Sadra, N Kashani, Remittances, Tehran Bureau, sanctions