US targets banks that help Iran
August 1st, 2012 - 3:30 am ICT by IANS
Washington, Aug 1 (IANS) US President Barack Obama Tuesday announced new sanctions against foreign banks that help Iran sell its oil.
Obama said the latest round of sanctions is to “deter Iran from establishing payment mechanisms for the purchase of Iranian oil to circumvent existing sanctions”.
China’s Bank of Kunlun and Iraq’s Elaf Islamic Bank have been targeted for “knowingly” enabling financial transactions for blacklisted Iranian banks, Xinhua reported.
They “facilitated transactions worth millions of dollars on behalf of Iranian banks that are subject to sanctions for their links to Iran’s illicit proliferation activities.”
Foreign financial institutions, whose governments still purchase Iranian crude oil as of June 28 this year, will be denied access to the US financial market, as per US law.
Twenty countries, including Japan, India, Malaysia, South Korea and China, have got US waiver due to their governments’ reduced purchases of Iranian oil.
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- Enough global oil to sideline Iran: Obama - Mar 31, 2012
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- US threatens sanctions against India over Iran oil? - Mar 16, 2012
- US targets Iran's third largest bank - Jan 24, 2012
- India, China not spared from US sanctions on Iran oil - Mar 21, 2012
- Will keep buying Iranian oil, says India - Jan 17, 2012
- US sanctions on Iran: India keeping all options open - Jan 07, 2012
- India open to all mechanisms to buy Iranian oil (Lead) - Jan 26, 2012
- US exempts India from Iran oil sanctions (Second Lead) - Jun 12, 2012
- China opposes unilateral sanctions against Iran - Jul 01, 2012
- US exempts India from Iran oil sanctions (Lead) - Jun 12, 2012
- India under pressure to cut oil imports from Iran: Clinton - May 07, 2012
- Clinton says diplomacy with Iran not infinite - Apr 05, 2012
- Croatia bans oil import from Iran - Mar 23, 2012
Tags: barack obama, china, crude oil, elaf, financial institutions, financial transactions, foreign banks, governments, India, iran, iranian banks, iranian oil, iraq, islamic bank, kunlun, payment mechanisms, proliferation activities, sanctions, south korea, xinhua