Iran's supreme leader a winner from nuclear deal

Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's conglomerate known as Setad is seen as the likely beneficial from the US sanctions lift off. The conglomerate was founded in 1989 are controlled by Khamenei himself even though it is not directly linked under his power. Khamenei was said to have total controls over Setad as he has the right to choose top management for the holdings.

The sanction removal became a reality last July as US and Iran reached an agreement during Vienna meeting regarding its nuclear deal.

The deal, also known as Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) will enable other Setad partners to do business with them without getting a sanction from the US, thus inducing more businesses to get involve with the conglomerate. According to the deal, Setad will be removed from Treasury's Specially Designed National list enabling the conglomerate to open a bank account abroad helping them to do business better. However, other American banks, companies, and individuals are still not allowed to deal with the conglomerate.

According to a source from Reuters, there are around 40 companies under Setad with total assets estimated to be around $95 billion in 2013. It was reported that the assets were acquired by Setad through force from businesses and the religious minority of Iranian in Iran and abroad. Currently, U.S Treasury had only announced Setad as officially sanction free, official status regarding other companies are still unknown.

The sanction put on Setad in June 2013 was meant to put pressure on the Supreme Leader to limit its nuclear program according to Economic Times. The sanction also serves as a way to slow down any effort by Ayatollah to fund his illegal activities abroad including terrorism. However, US sanctions on other activity in Iran related to militant group and human right abuse is still in place.

Meanwhile in the U.S, Business Insider reported that other lawmakers including Republicans are not convinced regarding the removal of the sanctions. This is because, it is seen as a way for Ayatollah to regain power and could potentially harming the global financial system. Their move to block the sanction removal ended in failure as there are not enough vote by the senate.

Setad holdings are not doing business in Iran alone as the conglomerate also operate from South Africa and Germany. One of those firms is Ghadir Investment Company which had previously signed a 500 million euro contract deal with an Italian aerospace and defense company, Finmeccanica. The firm is the first to take advantage from the sanction lift off.