Speaking to the local audience
Can the US require that the assets be used to buy US agricultural products?
“Well, we can try!” the nephew, who helped draft Iran sanctions in the Obama and Biden administrations, said by email.
“All you have to do is tell a foreign bank that it can wire the money, but only to an American bank to buy soybeans or whatever.”
Banks don’t have to comply, he said. If they refuse, the US can sanction them as well.
But it’s rare for the U.S. to behave this way, he added, “in part because we don’t usually like to give the impression that we’re treating national security issues as a cash grab.”
