(New York Times) Mark Landler - The Obama administration is weighing a proposal to ease the pain of sanctions on Tehran by offering it access to billions of dollars in frozen funds if the Iranian government takes specific steps to curb its nuclear program, a senior administration official said Thursday. Such a plan, under which the U.S. could free up Iran's frozen overseas assets in installments, would avoid the political and diplomatic risks of repealing the sanctions, the official said. It would also give President Obama the flexibility to respond to Iranian offers without unraveling the global sanctions regime the administration has spent years cobbling together. Administration officials said they would urge the Senate to hold off on voting on a new bill to strangle Iran's oil exports further until after the next round of talks on Nov. 7.
2013-10-18 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive