US sanctions 18 more Iranian banks

The United States added 18 more Iranian banks to its sanctions list on Thursday, October 8.

According to a report on the US Treasury Department website, 18 Iranian banks that were previously exempt from some US restrictions have been blacklisted.

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said today's sanctions demonstrate the US commitment to blocking Iran's illicit access to US dollars.

He added, "The Iran sanctions program will continue until Iran stops supporting terrorist activities and its nuclear program."

The United States had previously sanctioned other Iranian banks, including Bank Mellat, Sepah, Saderat, and others.

Mr. Mnuchin has said that despite the bank sanctions, the United States will allow financial transactions for humanitarian items for the Iranian people.

Bloomberg News previously reported on the Donald Trump administration's plan to "cut off Iran's economy from the outside," and Reuters News Agency reported on Thursday that this move would "virtually completely close the doors of the world's financial sector to Iran."

On Wednesday, the Washington Post reported, citing three officials familiar with the matter, that despite warnings from the European Union about the humanitarian consequences of sanctions on Iran, the US administration intends to impose new sanctions on Iran's financial sector.

Two sources told Bloomberg News that the Trump administration's goal in imposing new banking sanctions is to block the Islamic Republic's remaining avenues for receiving export revenues and also to thwart the plan of Joe Biden, Trump's rival in the new presidential election, to return to the JCPOA.

Mr. Biden had previously said that he would return to the JCPOA if he wins next month's election.

The Trump administration withdrew from the JCPOA in May 2018 and imposed tough sanctions on Iran.

A senior European official previously told Reuters that European officials are concerned that if Iran's remaining banks are sanctioned, Iran's foreign assets will be effectively frozen and the shortage of foreign currency to pay for humanitarian imports will be exacerbated.

But Mr. Mnuchin says the door is open for humanitarian interactions and trade.

This week, a day after the dollar reached 30,000 tomans, Abdolnaser Hemmati, the governor of the Central Bank of Iran, said that news of the Trump administration's plan to "completely cut off Iran's financial system" had a "psychological effect" on the Iranian currency market.

On Monday, Elliott Abrams, the US special representative for Iran and Venezuela, told CNN that the pressure of sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran "has never been like this, and we will continue to do so and, as you will see in the coming days and weeks, we will increase it."

The new US sanctions list includes the following banks: Amin Investment Bank, Keshavarzi Bank, Maskan Bank, Refah Kargan, Shahr Bank, Eqtesad Novin Bank, Qard-ol-Hasanah Resalat Bank, Hekmat Iranian Bank, Iranzamin Bank, Islamic Region Cooperative Bank, Karfarin Bank, Middle East Bank, Qard-ol-Hasanah Mehr Iran Bank, Pasargad Bank, Saman Bank, Sarmeh Bank, Tose' Cooperative Bank, and Tourism Bank.

Source: Radio Farda