Foreign financial institutions remain reluctant to process transactions to or from Iran on behalf of American companies and their overseas subsidiaries that are authorized to conduct the underlying business by the U.S. government, say sources.
Newly approved legislation imposing a raft of fresh sanctions on Russia, North Korea and Iran will afford the U.S. Treasury much greater insight into the financial activity of Iran’s powerful security force.
The nuclear accord reached last year between five Western nations and Iran has done more than stir hopes and fears about the Islamic republic's return to global markets. For U.S. sanctions experts, the deal has also created a mountain of work, according to a former Treasury Department official.