Venable partner Ashley W. Craig was interviewed in an April 3, 2015 Law360 article on what an agreement over Iran's nuclear program could mean for sanctions against the country. The primary concern related to sanctions is whether and to what extent the U.S. and European Union will coordinate efforts to remove sanctions against Iran.
"There is a good chance that as the details materialize about how [the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control] implements sanctions relief, we could find our friends and allies in the EU moving in a different way and perhaps a bit quicker than the U.S. government would hope," said Craig. "As a result, we could have problems when it comes to European operations and how they may have an advantage as opposed to U.S. companies."
According to the White House, the U.S. will suspend its nuclear-related sanctions against Iran once the International Atomic Energy Agency confirms Iran’s compliance with conditions over its nuclear activities. "It depends on how broadly we end up defining 'nuclear-related,'" said Craig. "It could very well be construed in a narrow way, which obviously the Iranians wouldn’t like but may help here politically move this forward. Or it could be a bit more comprehensive and touch other ancillary sectors and operations."