US says SWIFT could be sanctioned if it deals with sanctioned Iranian entities

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin

The United States has said that the Belgian-based SWIFT global payment network could be hit with American sanctions if it deals with Iranian financial institutions that Washington has blacklisted.

"SWIFT is no different than any other entity," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told reporters on Friday. "We have advised SWIFT that it must disconnect any Iranian financial institutions that we designate as soon as technologically feasible to avoid sanctions exposure."

Top officials in the US Treasury Department have been pushing for Iran to remain connected to SWIFT.

Multiple American officials, who spoke to the Washington Free Beacon news website last month, said an internal battle was being fought inside the US administration in Washington to save Iran's access to international financial markets and provide Tehran with a critical lifeline in advance of the looming sanctions.

Leaders of the SWIFT banking system held meetings with US officials to make sure Tehran retained its access to the international banking system after Washington's unilateral withdrawal from Iran nuclear deal in May.

US President Donald Trump and some other officials have, however, made clear that SWIFT and European countries should end their business with Tehran in a bid to put maximum pressure on the Islamic Republic.

"President Trump instructed the administration to restore all of the sanctions from the Obama era and then some, because that's what maximum pressure means," said one US official who works extensively on Iran policy.

"During the Obama era, SWIFT disconnected Iran due to sanctions threats," the official added.

This is while Iran has said that the US is seeking to wage an extensive “psychological war” against Tehran by imposing a fresh round of sanctions. But it insists that the Islamic Republic has no concerns over such US actions.

"America will not be able to carry out any measure against our great and brave nation ... We have the knowledge and the capability to manage the country's economic affairs," Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi told state TV IRIB.

The US plans to impose a second round of sanctions against Iran on Sunday, months after Washington scrapped the 2015 multilateral deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), reached between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries.

The first round of the sanctions – which had been lifted under the nuclear deal -- was re-imposed in August.

On Monday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Washington would fail to achieve its goals by imposing new sanctions on Iran.

Zarif added that nothing new would happen after the imposition of the second batch of US sanctions on November 4.


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