Iran's President Hassan Rouhani on Friday dismissed new US sanctions as unable to break the country's "resistance" and said Washington has already done all it can to pressure Tehran.
asdasdasdasdasdasdasdasdasdasd
asdasdasdasdasdasdasdasdasdasd
All tagged banking
◢ Paris, London and Berlin on Saturday welcomed six new European countries to the INSTEX mechanism, which is designed to mitigate the effects of US sanctions on European trade with Iran. They also insisted Iran must return to full compliance with its commitments under the deal "without delay.”
◢ A German unit of the Italian bank UniCredit SpA pleaded guilty to U.S. charges that it allowed Iranian customers to conduct transactions in violation of sanctions. As part of its settlement with several U.S. regulators, the bank will pay $1.3 billion and its Austrian unit will enter into a deferred-prosecution agreement.
◢ Standard Chartered will pay USD 1.1 billion to settle charges it processed transactions that violated US sanctions on Iran and other prohibited countries, US regulators announced Tuesday. The penalty covers some USD 600 million in US transactions from 2008 to 2014 that originated at Standard Chartered's London and Dubai offices.
◢ An Iranian arbitration body gave its approval on Saturday to an anti-money laundering bill seen as crucial to maintaining international trade and banking ties, the official IRNA news agency reported. "The bill on amending the law to counter money laundering was approved with certain changes and will be sent to the parliament speaker to be communicated to the government," Expediency Council member Gholamreza Mesbahi-Moghadam told IRNA.
◢ US officials fined Societe Generale USD 1.3 billion after charging the French bank with violating US sanctions on Cuba, Iran and other countries in a criminal settlement unveiled Monday. The financial penalty is the second largest ever on a financial institution for violating US sanctions.
◢ Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook briefed reporters regarding Iran sanctions to be reimposed on Monday November 5. This transcript was published by the Office of the Spokesperson at the U.S. Department of State. The briefing took place on Friday November 2.
◢ European nations are seeking to ensure at least one Iranian bank stays connected to the world after the US imposed new sanctions against the country, a French senator said in Tehran on Sunday. The United States pulled out of a landmark 2015 nuclear deal with Iran in May and has been reimposing punishing sanctions on the Islamic republic, targeting in particular its financial system.
◢ Iran's parliament on Sunday approved a bill to counter terrorist financing that was strongly opposed by conservatives but seen as vital to salvaging the nuclear deal with European and Asian partners. The bill, one of four put forward by the government to meet demands set by the international Financial Action Task Force (FATF), was passed by 143 votes to 120.
◢ Turkish police detained Tuesday over 200 people in a major nationwide crackdown on illicit money transfers to individuals of Iranian-origin living in the United States. An Istanbul court issued arrest warrants for a total of 417 suspects and have so far rounded up 216 in a nationwide operation carried out in 40 cities, the official Anadolu news agency reported.
◢ US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo denounced Tuesday a European Union plan to set up a way to preserve business with Iran and avoid renewed American sanctions. Addressing the United Against a Nuclear Iran pressure group being held near the annual UN General Assembly, Pompeo said he was "disturbed and indeed deeply disappointed" by Monday's announcement from remaining members of an international nuclear deal.
◢ The European Union said Monday its members would set up a payment system to allow oil companies and businesses to continue trading with Iran in a bid to evade sanctions after the US withdrew from a nuclear agreement. Iran and the European Union announced their defiance towards US President Donald Trump's administration after high-level talks at the United Nations among the remaining members of the accord.
◢ Germany, France and Britain are mulling setting up a new financial institution to allow EU trade with Iran to continue despite American sanctions renewed by US President Donald Trump, German media reported Friday. The three countries could set up a "Special Purpose Vehicle" (SPV)—a firm resembling a clearing house that would cut Tehran out of the financial loop while still allowing trade, news weekly Der Spiegel and business daily Handelsblatt reported.
◢ Multinational companies aren't the only victims of new US sanctions against Tehran: farmers and ranchers in the Normandy region of France hoping to supply Iran with thousands of cattle each year have also seen their path to a huge new market blocked. The deal with one of Iran's biggest meat processing groups was signed in 2016 after Iran agreed with world powers to curtail its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. The goal was to supply mainly prized Charolais stock to help "rebuild a high-quality cattle industry" in the Middle East, Nathalie Goulet, a senator from Normandy, told AFP this week.
◢ Turkey on Friday hosted an American delegation for talks to address concerns about the potential negative impact on its economy of the looming reimposition of US sanctions against Iran. US President Donald Trump decided in May to abandon the 2015 deal agreed with other world powers on Iran's nuclear program and reimpose nuclear-related sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
◢ Most French companies hoping to keep doing business in Iran after the US imposes new sanctions on the country will find it impossible to do so, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said Tuesday. These companies "won't be able to stay because they need to be paid for the products they deliver to or build in Iran, and they cannot be paid because there is no sovereign and autonomous European financial institution" capable of shielding them," Le Maire told BFM television.
◢ Iran banned the use of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies by banks and financial institutions on Monday amid ongoing debate over how best to regulate the technology. Many in Iran see great potential in digital currencies as a way to overcome problems related to international sanctions and difficulties facing the country's ailing banks.
