Nearly a month after the start of a 6-month abatement of Iran sanctions, U.S. officials have offered scant details on a promised financial stream for charitable donations to the country. In fact, say some humanitarian aid groups, nothing has changed at all.
The U.S. Treasury Department Thursday accused the owners of a Georgian bank and more than a dozen others of secretly helping Iran and Syria skirt economic sanctions.
Governmental documents published Monday cleared the way for foreign financial institutions to process limited transactions for Iranians but U.S. banks will be unlikely to relax their sanctions policies, according to experts.
As early as Monday, banks will be able to do what has become seemingly unthinkable in the sanctions compliance field during recent years: ramp up their ties to Iran.
A bipartisan bill filed Thursday in the U.S. Senate would impose new trade and banking restrictions on Iran if it fails to meet the terms of last months multinational nuclear agreement.
The chairman of a Senate committee vowed Thursday to block additional sanctions against Iran in an effort to protect last month's multilateral accord to suspend portions of the country's nuclear program.
Western financial institutions won't radically amend their sanctions controls in response to an agreement to limit Iran's nuclear program in exchange for a relaxation of banking restrictions, say former officials.
Lawmakers should press ahead with Iran sanctions bills despite pressure to put off new restrictions while American and Iranian officials hold nuclear talks, according to David Ibsen, executive director of United Against Nuclear Iran.
The U.S. House of Representatives Wednesday approved legislation that would limit White House-granted waivers to nations that purchase oil from Iran under a 2011 sanctions law.
Growing economic and political ties between Argentina and Iran are prompting some bank compliance officers to look more closely at their clients in the South American nation, say industry professionals.
The United Kingdom's Supreme Court decision in favor of Bank Mellat, Iran's largest private bank, will not weaken overall sanctions on Iran, U.K. legal and banking sources said.
The United States should more frequently blacklist foreign financial institutions that flout American sanctions barring Iranian oil sales, a lawmaker said Tuesday.
The U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs approved legislation that would restrict Iran's access to its overseas assets and expand measures targeting profits derived from the country's commercial trade.