May 26, 2018
The National Iranian American Council (NIAC) says many Iranian-Americans have seen their mail to family in Iran returned to them in recent months with obscure notations from the US Postal Service (USPS).
Americans have been free to send mail to Iran via the US Postal Service for decades despite the US embargo on trade with and investment in the country.
In recent months, however, NIAC has been receiving reports of Iranian-Americans having their letters and packages to Iran returned.
NIAC was told by USPS that it only began enforcing a block on such deliveries to Iran last August. USPS now requires that individuals sending mail to Iran must go through the process of filing an “Electronic Export Information” (EEI) form if sending anything of value, including gifts under $100 or even greeting cards.
Some suspected the Trump Administration had changed the policy, but USPS is a government-owned corporation and does not come under the command of the White House.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), which does come under the command of the White House, years ago issued a general license authorizing gifts and mail being sent to Iran. There has been no change in the OFAC policy.
NIAC said the letter it received from USPS did not explain why USPS was now barring such mail absent an EEI filing.
Both USPS and the Census Bureau told the Iran Times the rule on mail to Iran had been a Census Bureau rule for many years. Neither agency explained, but it appeared someone just noticed the rule last year and started enforcing it.
Both agencies told the Iran Times there had been “significant customer feedback”—bureaucratic language for many angry letters and calls from Iranian-Americans. Both agencies said they are now trying to figure out what to do about it. In bureaucracy-speak, they said they are pursuing efforts to see if the rules “can be better-tailored to the Federal government’s policy priorities.”
OFAC, which is in charge of sanctions, says the mail should be allowed to go through unimpeded. The Census Bureau did not tell the Iran Times why it is enforcing an old rule that conflicts with OFAC’s policy.
In a letter to the US Census Bureau and the Customs and Border Protection Agency, NIAC last month requested an exemption to allow Americans to once again send mail to Iran without an EEI. While the requirement to obtain an EEI authorization has technically been US policy for years, it has in reality been superseded by other US policies – including the General License issued by OFAC to allow most personal mail to Iran.
The agencies NIAC has contacted have the authority to issue exceptions to the policy if it causes an undue burden, NIAC said, adding it “appears self-evident given the inability of many Iranian-Americans or Americans with friends and family in Iran to successfully send mail and packages.”
But another option is for the Census Bureau just to dump the rule and bring its policy in line with that of OFAC, which runs sanctions policy.
Most communications between Iranian-Americans and their friends and relatives in Iran are now presumed to be by email and telephone, so few letters are being sent. But gift packages are often sent, especially around the Now Ruz holiday.
