US President Barack Obama on Wednesday again renewed the "national emergency" policy with respect to Iran, emphasizing that the country remains a threat to the United States.
"Because our relations with Iran have not yet returned to normal, and the process of implementing the agreements with Iran, dated January 19, 1981, is still under way, the national emergency declared on November 14, 1979, must continue in effect beyond November 14, 2014," Obama said in a letter to Congress.
The International Emergency Economic Powers Act, under which the national emergency law is applied, came into effect in October 1977, and allows the US president to determine "any unusual and extraordinary threat, which has its source in whole or substantial part outside the United States," and then apply the commercial regulation deemed necessary, such as the blocking of transactions and freezing of assets.