WASHINGTON — The Obama administration will designate
Iran and its central bank as a “primary money-laundering concern” Monday
and impose new sanctions aimed at deterring the regime from developing
nuclear weapons.
The Treasury Department is not
planning to sanction Bank Markazi, Iran’s central bank, despite calls
from some Republicans and Democrats in Congress to do so.
But
U.S. officials hope the new set of sanctions will inspire other
governments to break off transactions with both the central bank and
with businesses in Iran, especially those in its critical energy sector.
The
U.S. sanctions were coordinated with British officials, who announced
Monday that they would cut off all financial ties with Iranian banks.
Canadian officials also were to announce new sanctions against Iran on
Monday.
The Obama administration boasts that it
has imposed harsher sanctions on Iran than any previous administration.
Yet critics point out that the sanctions, while clearly harmful to
Iran’s economy, have not halted the country’s suspected nuclear program
nor its sponsorship of alleged terrorist activities.
The
decision by U.S. officials is inspired in part by disclosures of an
alleged assassination plot against the Saudi ambassador in the United
States and by a recent report from the United Nations nuclear watchdog
agency about advances in the Iranian nuclear program.
Analysts
said that identifying Iran as a source of money laundering is the most
consequential step announced by the administration. The designation
would probably cause financial institutions that want to remain in good
stead with United States authorities and the U.S. economy to sharply
curtail their dealing with Iranian institutions.
Yet
some speculated it would not deter institutions from other key Iranian
trading partners, such as Russia, China, Turkey and Kuwait, which care
less about their standing with the U.S.
“This is
unlikely to drive them away, because it still doesn’t contain specific
penalties,” said Mark Dubowitz, executive director of the Foundation for
the Defense of Democracies.
He added that
Congress, which supports categorical sanctions on Iran’s central bank,
and far tougher enforcement, “is unlikely to be satisfied with this.”
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