Why undoing the 'tangled nest' of Iran sanctions won't be easy or quick for the US

Tehran stands to gain billions of dollars from a 60-day reprieve from US sanctions announced on Monday, but unwinding more than four decades of restrictions poses legal, political and commercial challenges that could take years. At issue is whether an interim US deal with Iran can translate into lasting economic relief, given the complexity of dismantling a sanctions regime that spans US law, international measures and private-sector risk concerns. The United Nations, the US and the European Union have imposed sanctions and trade embargoes and have frozen assets since the late 1970s over Iran’s nuclear programme, human rights violations and support for militant groups around the region. Under a 14-point memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by the US and Iran last week, Washington is to start abolishing all types of sanctions using a schedule to be forged in a final deal within 60 days, a period that can be extended. On Monday, the US Treasury issued a temporary general licence allowing the production, delivery and sale of crude oil and petrochemical and petroleum products of Iranian origin through August 21. Removing the remaining sanctions — if it happens — would represent a stark change in US policy toward the Middle East, which has long focused on curbing Iran’s influence and using financial pressure to weaken its theocratic government. It would also be difficult, requiring executive action for some measures, approval by Congress for others and close coordination with the UN and other countries that have imposed their own sanctions. Companies, wary after decades of restrictions, could also blunt the impact. “You have this tangled nest of sanctions, and it’s not just executive orders, it’s congressional sanctions,” said Juan Zarate, deputy national security adviser for combating terrorism under former President George W. Bush. Congress is skeptical Washington first sanctioned Iran in 1979, after revolutionary students seized the US embassy in Tehran, holding d