Proposals for clarifying or relaxing certain U.S. financial restrictions would be a cumbersome way for Iranian trading partners to access U.S. dollars, but would give Iran modest, unreciprocated benefits.

On April 1, President Obama responded to reports that the United States was considering new sanctions concessions for Iran in the wake of Iranian complaints about the difficulty of reestablishing banking relationships since sanctions relief took effect in January. After noting that Washington and others would "provide clarity to businesses about what transactions are, in fact, allowed," he added, "It is not necessary that we take the approach of them going through dollar-denominated transactions." What are the implications of his clarification about access to the U.S. dollar?

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Read the full report at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.