Domestic banks and foreign financial institutions with U.S. branches are scrambling to comply with a tough new U.S. law and subsequent regulations designed to cripple the Iranian financial system, say analysts.
The U.S. Treasury Department Wednesday added another Iranian bank to its list of 16 Iran-controlled financial institutions that U.S. companies are prohibited from doing business with.
Additional banking and trade restrictions that target the finance and supply of Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs were passed by the U.N. Security Council Wednesday.
An influential financial crime watchdog group released Thursday a much-anticipated list of nearly 30 countries with anti-money laundering and counter terrorism financing deficiencies.
A United Nations report that Iran has slowed uranium production and cooperated with some inspections of a nuclear site will do little to dissuade proponents of sanctioning the country, according to a former U.N. inspector.
The sanctions put pressure on U.S. banks to conduct greater due diligence on correspondent accounts to determine if they are linked to the Middle Eastern nation. That will likely continue a trend of foreign institutions dropping business dealings with the country.
print