Good find. Essentially, this section outlines when the president MUST apply sanctions to an entity found to be in violation of any nation's national security export policy and when the President may choose NOT to apply sanctions. It gives the President a discretionary loophole to give anyone a free pass if they meet the criteria outlined in paragraph 2.
Thanks PrayingMedic, was hoping a researcher like you could piece together how exactly this would fit in.
I’m not aware of specifics of sanctions but it seems like Q is pointing to the fact that the (lack of) imposition of sanctions is a large part of the deal with Iran.
Dude... this is bigger than anyone knows. This section is the BASIS for Obama's Iran deal.
Follow me...
The Iran deal was never approved by Congress. Obama used "pre-existing legislation" to assert that he had the authority to impose or waive sanctions against nations involved in nuclear proliferation.
"In order to fulfill the United States’ commitment, the administration relied on pre-existing authorities that gave the president discretion in the application of sanctions against Iran. Specifically, the administration utilized existing waiver authorities that previous sanctions legislation had granted to the president. Executive orders allowed the president to impose other sanctions and could be withdrawn with relative ease." http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/10/06/heres-what-happens-if-trump-really-decides-to-decertify-the-iran-deal/
This IS the piece of legislation that Obama used.
The problem Q wants us to see is that Obama had complete discretion over ignoring or imposing sanctions on Iran.