U.S. to Freeze Iranian Bank Assets

The United States plans to freeze the assets of a major Iranian bank as part of Washington’s effort to implement last month’s U.N. Security Council resolution designed to pressure Iran to curb its nuclear activities, the Treasury Department announced today (see GSN, Jan. 3).

U.S. Treasury Undersecretary Stuart Levey designated Iran’s fifth-largest bank, the Bank Sepah, as “a supporter of WMD proliferation.”  Under an executive order issued in 2005 by President George W. Bush, the finding requires all U.S.-held Bank Sepah assets to be frozen and bans all U.S. individuals and companies from conducting business with Bank Sepah.

The bank “provides direct and extensive financial services to Iranian entities responsible for developing missiles capable of carrying weapons of mass destruction,” Levey said in a statement.  Furthermore, “Bank Sepah has engaged in a range of deceptive practices in an effort to avoid detection, including requesting that other financial institutions take its name off of transactions when processing them in the international financial system” (U.S. Treasury Department release, Jan. 9).

Meanwhile, Iranian officials pledged yesterday to continue the nation’s nuclear program and warned other countries not to interfere.

“The Iranian nation undoubtedly will not refrain from their right (to nuclear energy),” said Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in his first official comment following the Security Council’s imposition of sanctions.

A military official threatened to slow or curb international oil shipments in the Persian Gulf if Western nations act too vigorously against Iran.

“With Iran’s authority over the Strait of Hormuz, the passageway to more than 40 percent of the world’s energy, we have become so strong that the world’s economic and energy security are in the hands of Iran,” said Gen. Majid Mir Ahmadi, deputy commander of Iran’s volunteer Basij militia (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, Jan. 8).

One European diplomat in Vienna, however, doubted that Iran would act brashly if it wanted to court Russia and China, both of which worked to soften the Security Council resolution.

“As long as Iran plays its hand cautiously, we will not get a tougher U.N. resolution, thanks to Russia,” said the diplomat (Mark Heinrich, Reuters II/Gulf Times, Jan. 9).

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