For the life of me I can not understand why a foreign country that has a sort of adversary relationship with the USA would park assets in the USA
Iran wants assets seized by the USA as part of the beginning of talks to normalize relations and nuclear enrichment etc.
Iran has had an uneasy, adversary relationship with the USA, going back yrs. Why would Iran not park assets in Russia or China or any place that is more friendly and assets not so likely to be seized
Sounds kind of dumb for Iran to park assets in the USA vs perhaps choosing a more friendly country
Other USA sanctions such as oil shipments being sanctioned I can understand and probably why Iran has decided to trade oil with China
Liquid assets, some cash ready to purchase stks, RE, bonds etc sound really dumb to park/invest in the USA
I don't care what the ROI may be if it is frozen for yrs. They had time to remove from the USA if they read the tea leaves and could see the world was not happy when they broke the rules about enrichment. Heck, I would have moved assets out at the time when Iran took USA embassy personal hostages. That was the start of rocky relations, I think
When you are on the edge of the rules, time to get out of Dodge City, with as much gold as your pack animal can haul. Back then nobody was going to hijack the boatload of gold on the journey to Iran, if they acted soon enough.
Doesn't China have a decent ROI and no danger of seized assets
What am I missing???
Thanks Wayne,
Great points.
It appears that Iran has a great deal more assets in China and a couple of other countries than in the US.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_frozen_assets
Iranian frozen assets in international accounts are calculated to be worth between $100 billion[1][2] and $120 billion.[3][4] Almost $1.973 billion of Iran's assets are frozen in the United States.[5] According to the Congressional Research Service, in addition to the money locked up in foreign bank accounts, Iran's frozen assets include real estate and other property. The estimated value of Iran's real estate in the U.S. and their accumulated rent is $50 million.[1] Besides the assets frozen in the U.S., some parts of Iran's assets are frozen around the world by the United Nations.[1]
As of January 2021, Iran had frozen assets in the following countries: $7 billion in South Korea; $6 billion in Iraq; $20 billion in China; $1.5 billion in Japan; 1.6 billion in Luxembourg.[6]
https://www.heritage.org/index/country/iran
Iran’s economic freedom score is 47.2, making its economy the 168th freest in the 2021 Index. Its overall score has decreased by 2.0 points, primarily because of a decline in judicial effectiveness. Iran is ranked last among 14 countries in the Middle East and North Africa region, and its overall score is well below the regional and world averages.
The Iranian economy remains in the ranks of the repressed where it has been for all but four years since 1996 when it was first included in the Index. The government and powerful interest groups that dominate the economy and are mostly linked to the security and religious establishments are largely opposed to economic liberalization and reengagement with international businesses.