Blocking the Confirmation of Obama's Proposed Candidate in the Senate

Tom Cotton, a Republican senator from the United States, on Wednesday blocked the vote to confirm President Barack Obama's nominee for the position of Deputy Secretary of the Treasury due to concerns about the potential facilitation of dollar transactions with Iran. According to the American newspaper 'The Hill', Sherrod Brown, a Democratic senator, called for a vote of confidence for Adam Zubin, for the position of Deputy Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Crimes. The newspaper referred to the Deputy Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Crimes, which oversees U.S. sanctions, as the 'Czar of Sanctions'. Meanwhile, Senator Tom Cotton opposed this action, stating that he was against Adam Zubin's confirmation due to concerns about a possible decision by the Obama administration to facilitate dollar transactions with Iran. Tom Cotton stated, 'Jacob Lew, the Treasury Secretary, previously announced that the U.S. government allows Iran to use dollars in its transactions.' This Republican senator added that as long as President Barack Obama, Secretary of State John Kerry, and Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew do not publicly and definitively deny Iran's access to dollars, he will oppose this nomination (for the Treasury Department). Last month, the Associated Press reported, citing U.S. government officials, that discussions regarding the facilitation of Iran's access to dollars had been raised in the U.S. Treasury, but no decision had yet been made. Following this report, several Republican representatives in Congress criticized this action. Earlier, Reuters had written that as long as the U.S. government considers banking transactions with Iran in dollars and sourced from borrowing from the U.S. financial system to be prohibited, the problem of currency transfer in transactions related to Iran will continue. In recent weeks, the head of the Central Bank and the Foreign Minister of Iran have asked the U.S. to remove obstacles to dollar transactions of non-American banks with Iran. Mohammad Javad Zarif stated on April 17, 'As everyone has known from the beginning, the JCPOA did not and does not include American banks, but the issue is the lack of U.S. interference in the cooperation of other banks with Iran.' A day earlier, Valiollah Seif, the head of Iran's Central Bank, also stated that global powers have not yet fulfilled their 'commitments' under the nuclear agreement. In this context, Kerry, after meeting with Zarif, stated: 'We will continue negotiations about the JCPOA on Friday.' Kerry and Zarif met behind closed doors in New York. Ryan urged Obama to 'definitely' reject Iran's access to dollars. Kerry: 'Iran has received three billion dollars since the beginning of the JCPOA.'