• yekooche said
  12:29 PM Oct 18, 2015

USA TODAY
11:52 a.m. EDT October 18, 2015
     WASHINGTON — President Obama signed an order Sunday directing his administration to begin issuing waivers to Iran nuclear sanctions — but the waivers will only go into effect once Iran meets its obligations under the agreement limiting its nuclear program.
     The presidential memorandum marks what’s being called “adoption day” for the international agreement intended to roll back Iran’s nuclear program. The milestone, four administration officials said, is a mere formality, driven more by the calendar than by any action by Iran.
     Obama directed Secretary of State John Kerry to issue the waivers and to “take all appropriate additional measures to ensure the prompt and effective implementation of the U.S. commitments” in the agreement.
     Sunday marks 90 days since the United Nations Security Council approved the agreement. “So adoption day is a calendar-driven event and it’s the day at which all the parties begin to take the steps they need to make sure they take to get to implementation day,” said State Department spokesman John Kirby. “And we’re not at implementation day; that’s a whole different purpose.”
     No date is set for implementation day. Under the agreement, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, implementation will come only when the International Atomic Energy Agency certifies that Iran has lived up to its obligations to reduce its stockpiles of enriched uranium, dismantle two-thirds of its centrifuges, and halt construction of new nuclear facilities..
     Western officials have said they expect that to take four to six months. Iran is motivated to act quickly, said one of the four senior administration officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the State Department.
     The agreement, signed by the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Russia, China, Germany and Iran, requires Obama and the European Union to direct the issuance of waivers on adoption day. Even though they won’t go into effect for months, the arrangement allows businesses to know what sanctions are being waived, another senior administration official said.
…
—— Update  REUTERS
Senior officials from the six world powers, Iran and the European Union will hold a first meeting in Vienna on Monday to monitor implementation of Iran’s commitments, a Western diplomat said.

— Edited by yekooche on Sunday 18th of October 2015 12:40:42 PM

• GreatlyBlessed said
  01:03 PM Oct 18, 2015

President Obama orders Iran sanctions waivers — URGENT

Washington, Oct 18, IRNA — President Obama signed an order Sunday directing his administration to issue waivers to Iran nuclear sanctions — the waivers go into effect on Adoption Day of JCPOA struck on July 14.

The presidential memorandum marks what’s being called ‘adoption day‘ for the international agreement intended to roll back Iran’s nuclear program. 

Sunday marks 90 days since the United Nations Security Council approved the agreement. ‘So adoption day is a calendar-driven event and it’s the day at which all the parties begin to take the steps they need to make sure they take to get to implementation day,’ said State Department spokesman John Kirby.

Under the agreement, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, implementation will come only when the International Atomic Energy Agency verifies that Iran has lived up to its obligations to reduce its stockpiles of enriched uranium, dismantle two-thirds of its centrifuges, and halt construction of new nuclear facilities.

Western officials have said they expect that to take four to six months. 

The agreement, signed by the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Russia, China, Germany and Iran, requires President Obama and the European Union to direct the issuance of waivers on adoption day.
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www.irna.ir/en/News/81804444/

— Edited by GreatlyBlessed on Sunday 18th of October 2015 01:05:20 PM

• GreatlyBlessed said
  01:23 PM Oct 18, 2015

www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/Programs/pages/iran.aspx

Statement Relating to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action “Adoption Day” of October 18, 2015

——————————————————————————–

On July 14, 2015, the P5+1, the European Union, and Iran reached a Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) to ensure that Iran’s nuclear program will be exclusively peaceful. October 18, 2015 marks “Adoption Day” under the JCPOA – the day on which the JCPOA becomes effective and participants begin to make the necessary preparations for implementation of their JCPOA commitments. In connection with Adoption Day, the President today issued a memorandum directing the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Commerce, and the Secretary of Energy to take all appropriate preparatory measures to ensure the prompt and effective implementation of the U.S. commitments set forth in the JCPOA upon Iran’s fulfillment of the requisite conditions. In particular, the President directed the agencies to take steps to give effect to the U.S. commitments with respect to sanctions described in the JCPOA beginning on Implementation Day, which will occur only once the IAEA verifies that Iran has implemented key nuclear-related measures described in the JCPOA.

In addition, the Secretary of State today issued contingent waivers of certain statutory sanctions provisions. These waivers are not currently in effect and will only take effect on Implementation Day. 

Until Implementation Day is reached, the only changes to the Iran-related sanctions are those provided for in the Joint Plan of Action (JPOA) of November 24, 2013, as extended. See the August 7, 2015 revised guidance, Frequently Asked Questions, and the Third Amended Statement of Licensing Policy on Activities Related to the Safety of Iran’s Civil Aviation Industry for additional information regarding the sanctions-related commitments under the JPOA. Even after Implementation Day, U.S. persons will continue to be broadly prohibited from engaging in transactions or dealings involving Iran, including the Government of Iran, with the exception of a few specific categories of transactions that OFAC will license pursuant to the JCPOA. 

The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued Frequently Asked Questions relating to Adoption Day. OFAC will provide further guidance on the sanctions measures that will be lifted pursuant to the JCPOA, as well as those measures that will remain in place, prior to Implementation Day.

  The Council of Ministers has planned to conduct a special meeting next week in order to approve the Iraqi federal budget for 2016. A statement issued by the Iraqi government on Wednesday that today Iraqi Council of Ministers summarized the federal budget draft law for the year 2016 and declared that it needs more time, so they decided to conduct an exceptional session next week in order to finalize the budget draft and submit this draft to the House of Representative for final approval. The Iraqi Finance Ministry announced on 16th September that they have forwarded the budget draft 2016 to the cabinet for further discussion and a copy of this budget draft was published on their official website.

 But on Tuesday, the Council of Ministers clear-cut announced to design a committee to find out how this was leaked out for the media. It is the fact that this draft was published by the Finance Ministry. It is also said that a number of confidential information have been leaked out including crude oil revenue on the average price of 45 U.S dollars per barrel, export of crude oil 3.6 million barrels per day and 2, 50,000 barrels crude oil per day from the Kurdistan region and more than 3, 00,000 barrels crude oil production from the Kirkuk province, and all these revenues are considered as public treasury of the state. It is also said that oil revenues and mineral revenues are estimated at 69 trillion 773 billion and 400 million Iraqi dinars and this amount is 83 percent of the total revenue of 84 trillion Iraqi dinars.

Article: “Monetary policies in Iraq and proposals for the next phase applications”

We are all, or at least most of us, frustrated that the CBI has seemed to be unable to move “around the corner” leading to a rise in the value of the dinar.

This article for once outlines in detail…the fact that the CBI definitely has a plan and that the plan includes, first, stabilizing the dinar rate, then second, raising the rate, and, third, eventually removing the large notes from circulation ( a clear goal of at least $1 for the dinar).

Therefore, if nothing else, this article is a confirmation that the overall plan remains in place in spite of the obvious drawbacks.

The article is also fairly clear on those elements that have caused the “plan” to be stalled to a large extent…in addition to those things that we have always known, there were a couple new points made that make the lack of progress more understandable. The article is also specific in that it sees that the role of the government is obstructive rather than helpful in moving toward a more open market driven economy.

It is my view that Abadi is a good guy and that he is actually looking for ways to help move this process along.   Ideally, the CBI will give him suggestions that he can implement unilaterally (without approval from Parliament) to remove some of the strings that exist in government funding and expenditure, reducing the move to a market economy.

I, for one, remain cautiously optimistic that the plan is moving forward, even though at a snail’s pace… I see that pressure is increasing to make a “leap” forward. The passage of the Investment Law this week, hopefully, will be a big  step in the plan because it will open the door for protected investment and land ownership from foreigners…we could begin to see a significant increase in foreign investment in the near term.

Then we need some banking relief through a new Banking Law.  Third, we need to see the introduction of the large 50K notes. Reducing the Iraqi money supply…will lead to a rise in the value of the dinar.  Once this process begins, hopefully before the year ends, I foresee a rapid rise in the value of the dinar…most importantly due to the influx of new money from abroad.  I’m actually excited to see this plan laid out in detail for the first time.