US Warns Foreign Financial Institutions Not to Do Business with Iran
The US Treasury issued an alert on Monday warning foreign financial institutions that continuing to transact with sanctioned Iranian financial institutions could make them targets at any time without advance notification, and that they should take immediate action to terminate such activity and relationships. The Treasury said Iran's government operates so-called "shadow banking" channels to circumvent US sanctions, which foreign financial institutions should identify and avoid. Since late August Washington has stepped up its campaign to economically isolate Tehran, announcing new sanctions on Iran's financial, cryptocurrency, rail, automotive and manufacturing sectors and taking action against two banks, one in the United Arab Emirates and another in Türkiye.
Why it matters: The alert extends the briefing's sanctions and economic coercion theme, in which secondary-sanction threats are used to press third-country banks out of dealings with a targeted state.