US Secretary of State John Kerry Thursday revealed for the first time that the United States is offering to free up "a tiny portion" of some $45 billion in Iranian assets frozen in bank accounts around the world.
As he campaigns to sell skeptical US lawmakers a nascent deal with Iran to rein in its suspect nuclear program, Kerry insisted "the core sanctions regime does not really get eased."
"Ninety-five percent or more of the current sanctions will remain in place," the top US diplomat said in an interview, after talks failed to reach a deal in Geneva at the weekend.
Before the sanctions began to bite, Tehran was earning about $110 billion to $120 billion in annual revenue from oil sales, said Kerry, who is leading the push to rally Congress behind efforts to strike a deal to halt Iran's uranium enrichment.
"That has been knocked down to about 40 to 45 billion now because of the sanctions and that 45 billion is frozen in banks around the world. They can't access it," Kerry insisted.
As he campaigns to sell skeptical US lawmakers a nascent deal with Iran to rein in its suspect nuclear program, Kerry insisted "the core sanctions regime does not really get eased."
"Ninety-five percent or more of the current sanctions will remain in place," the top US diplomat said in an interview, after talks failed to reach a deal in Geneva at the weekend.
Before the sanctions began to bite, Tehran was earning about $110 billion to $120 billion in annual revenue from oil sales, said Kerry, who is leading the push to rally Congress behind efforts to strike a deal to halt Iran's uranium enrichment.
"That has been knocked down to about 40 to 45 billion now because of the sanctions and that 45 billion is frozen in banks around the world. They can't access it," Kerry insisted.
