U. S. & EU Expand Sanctions against Iran

The U.S. and EU went beyond the global sanctions that the United Nations (UN)adopted against Iran earlier in June and imposed new restrictions aimed at Iranian banks, ocean shippers and oil and gas industries. The Obama administration also brought back an old export control and nonproliferation official, Bob Einhorn, to oversee implementation of Iran sanctions at State. In addition to implementing UN sanctions, the new restrictions are aimed at stopping Tehran’s circumvention of previously imposed sanctions on its international business.

The new sanctions announced June 16 target Post Bank of Iran, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) entities and individuals, the IRGC Air Force and IRGC Missile Command, Rah Sahel and Sepanir Oil and Gas Engineering Co.,two individuals linked to the IRGC, two individuals and two entities for their ties to Iran's Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) programs, including Javedan Mehr Toos, and five Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) front companies.

Treasury also blocked 27 vessels because of their connection to IRISL and updated the entries for 71 already-blocked IRISL vessels to identify new names given to these vessels as part of IRISL's efforts to evade sanctions. Treasury also identified 22 petroleum, energy, and insurance companies owned or controlled by the government of Iran, including 17 located outside Iran and many that are not easily identifiable as Iranian.

“At one time, Post Bank's business was conducted almost entirely within Iran,” Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Stuart Levey told a press briefing. “But when some of Iran's largest banks were exposed for financing proliferation, Iran began to use Post Bank to facilitate international trade. In fact, Post Bank stepped into the shoes of Bank Sepah, which is under UN sanctions, to carry out Bank Sepah's transactions and hide its identity,” he said. “International banks that would never deal with Bank Sepah have been handling these transactions that they think are really for Post Bank,” Levey added. “We know that officials in Iran have been anxious about this new round of sanctions.” Levey said. “If the Iranian government holds true to form, it will scramble to identify ‘work-arounds,’ hiding behind front companies, doctoring wire transfers, falsifying shipping documents. We will continue to expose this deception, thereby reinforcing the very reasons why the private sector is increasingly shunning Iran,” he said.