Just weeks after the US denied allegations it was deterring foreign banks from doing business with Iran, the State Department today sought to assure Congress that they are very much barring Iran from accessing the US dominated financial system.

Undersecretary Thomas Shannon insisted that the “rumors” that Iran was free to make transactions in US dollars with the elimination of the nuclear sanctions was not true, and that there were no plans to allow Iran to do so.

The White House also issued a statement today assuring Congress that they will not allow foreign banks to access the US financial system related to facilitating any trade involving Iran.

This all amounts to an admission that the US sanctions relief from the P5+1 deal was, as described by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, largely “on paper,” and that it is extremely disingenuous of the administration to deny any responsibility in Iran’s difficulty in conducting business transactions which are now perfectly legal under international law.