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US Treasury Tries to Boost Medical Sales to Iran

The US government says it will increase humanitarian trade with Iran, but sanctions lawyers say the measures are not enough and still require authorized channels between US and Iran banks.
A man walks past a poster at a conceptual art exhibition about HIV/AIDS in Tehran December 2, 2007. REUTERS/Morteza Nikoubazl (IRAN) - RTX4B45

The US Treasury Department, responding to widespread criticism that US financial regulations have depressed sales of foreign medicine and other humanitarian items to Iran, on Thursday [July 25] issued an advisory that seeks to encourage these sales by underlining that they are not subject to US sanctions and expanding the list of medical devices that can be sold to Iran without a license.

The advisory, obtained shortly before its official release by Al-Monitor, does not, however, establish an authorized channel for transactions between US and non-sanctioned Iranian banks, reducing the chances that it will substantially boost US sales of food and medicine or resolve a host of other problems that complicate humanitarian transactions between the two countries.

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