US pursuing increased pressure on Iran

Top US officials to consult with European allies on ways to intensify pressure on Islamic Republic to curb its access to international financial system

Reuters
Published: 07.07.07, 09:25 / Israel News

Senior US officials will consult allies in Europe next week on ways to intensify pressure on Iran amid suspicions Tehran is trying to evade sanctions by concealing the origin of financial transactions.

Iranian Nuke

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US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Friday that with Iran becoming "increasingly dangerous," the United States and its allies are discussing new sanctions to further curb Tehran's access to the international financial system.

While Washington is committed to a diplomatic solution, Iran must know "there are coercive elements to our policy as well," Rice said in an interview with Maria Bartiromo on CNBC's "Closing Bell" program.

"We are working on financial measures that really will say to the Iranians, 'You cannot use the benefits of the international financial system and continue to pursue a nuclear weapon'," Rice added, according to an official State Department transcript.

Undersecretary of Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Stuart Levey said he would visit London, Paris, Berlin and Frankfurt next week to "compare notes" about how Iran is using the international financial system to continue to pursue its nuclear program and support extremists.

"Some of the things we've been paying special attention to is how Iran has adapted financial practices that allow it to attempt to evade both controls of Islamic financial institutions as well as potentially to evade (UN and US) financial measures that have been put in place," Levey told reporters.

In some cases, Iranian state-owned institutions - including the central bank and Bank Sepah, which is under UN and US Sanctions - have asked other institutions they do business with to handle transactions without using their names, he said.

This risks involving international financial institutions that do have integrity in tainted transactions and "also is a means by which Iran can do something to evade sanctions that are in place," Levey said.

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