The U.S. expanded measures aimed at thwarting Iran’s nuclear program, targeting its central bank and oil industry with sanctions intended to cut the regime off from international financial transactions.
Yesterday’s actions, matched by similar steps from the U.K. and Canada, are in response to a Nov. 8 United Nations atomic agency report concluding that previous sanctions have not stopped Iran from clandestine nuclear-bomb work.
The Obama administration for the first time yesterday declared that the entire Iranian financial sector, including its central bank, is involved in money laundering. It invoked the anti-terrorism USA Patriot Act to target direct and indirect financing of Iran.
Any institution or company that engages in transactions with Iran’s banking system is “at risk of supporting Iran’s illicit activities: its pursuit of nuclear weapons, its support for terrorism,” Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said in a press conference in Washington. “Financial institutions around the world should think hard about the risks of doing business with Iran.”
The new U.S. sanctions also target companies that provide goods or services to Iran’s oil and gas industries. Existing U.S. laws have forced most international oil companies out of Iran and the new measures aim to stop it from obtaining technology and money from smaller foreign companies.
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