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A U.S. bureau's decision to eschew the traditional rulemaking process in finalizing Iran's status as a "primary money laundering concern" may open the floodgates for such designations, sources told ACAMS moneylaundering.com, but also expose them to legal challenges. The Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network first pitched the designation against Iran under Section 311 of the Patriot Act in 2011, but never finalized it. The bureau instead issued a second and immediately effective blacklisting against the country in October 2019, formally prohibiting U.S. banks from holding correspondent accounts for their Iranian counterparts. Though other sanctions have long barred U.S. banks...