In the wake of two days of nuclear negotiations between world leaders and Iran the Obama administration is considering allowing Iran to retrieve billions of dollars in frozen overseas assets in exchange for dialing back their nuclear weapons program, according to the Washington Post.
Congress has taken a more skeptical and hardline approach toward Iran saying that they would accept nothing less than Iran abandoning their uranium enrichment activity before allowing any easing of sanctions, according to the Post.
Members of new Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's administration met with negotiators from the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council - the United States, the United Kingdom, France, China and Russia - and Germany in Geneva to discuss the nation's nuclear program. Previous talks had stalled because the United States did not believe that Iran had peaceful intentions behind their enrichment of uranium; that stance seems to have changed after the talks that officials were calling "substantive and forward looking," according to Al Jazeera America.
"We found the Iranian presentation very useful," White House spokesman Jay Carney said. "The Iranian proposal was a new proposal with a level of seriousness and substance that we had not seen before."
A source that spoke with the Jerusalem Post said that the Iranian proposal presented by Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that the nation would halt production of enriched uranium, it would convert its arsenal of fuel rods and they would hand over used nuclear fuel.
Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., is planning to add an amendment to a package of international restrictions on commerce with Iran that could freeze all of Iran's overseas assets while giving the Obama administration the ability to allow Iran to access some of the money. The money would only be able to be accessed if Iran completely ceased enriching uranium, a condition the country is unlikely to accept, according to the Washington Post.
"Now is a time to strengthen, not weaken, U.S. and international sanctions," Kirk said in a statement along with Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. "The U.S. should not suspend new sanctions, nor consider releasing limited frozen assets, before Tehran suspends its nuclear enrichment activities."
It is not known if simply the offer to unfreeze some of their assets after certain goals are met will be enough for the Iranians who are hoping to have all of the sanctions that have been placed on them since 2006 lifted, according to the New York Times.
"The Iranians are looking for fundamental sanctions relief," Ray Takeyh, an expert on Iran from the Council on Foreign Relations, told the New York Times. "I'm not sure whether they'd accept phased access to their own money."
