Erik Seemann
The EU froze the assets of Iran's biggest bank on Monday.
Posted on 06/23/2008 11:41:07 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
The European Union has imposed new sanctions on Iran in an effort to halt the country's nuclear program. The European assets of a major Iranian bank are to be frozen and more restrictions may be on their way.
Erik Seemann
The EU froze the assets of Iran's biggest bank on Monday.
The European Union stepped up its campaign against Iran's nuclear program on Monday, freezing the European assets of a major Iranian bank.
At a meeting of European foreign ministers in Luxembourg, a new sanctions package was announced that included measures against Iran's biggest financial institution, Bank Melli.
Bank Melli has been under close financial monitoring since March as part of a United Nations sanctions program. The EU has accused the bank of helping to finance Iran's efforts to produce enriched uranium, a first step towards building a nuclear weapon. The bank was placed on a US blacklist last year.
International authorities say Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons technology under cover of a civilian nuclear power program. Iran insists it only wants nuclear power for electricity generation.
(Excerpt) Read more at spiegel.de ...
Of course, since the world was warned that they were going to do this two weeks ago, the vaults are already empty.
If this doesn’t work, the EU will revoke Iran’s country club membership. That’ll show ‘em.
I doubt all of Iran’s European assets are in a current account.
I couldn’t divest my money from a foreign country in just two weeks: not without taking a thumping loss. I doubt a country with 70 million inhabitants could either.
Kudos to Europe for doing this.
Would have been effective to seize assets in May. I guess they didn’t want to take anything and make this a show of process and nothing.
kudos for nothing.
06/10/08
Iran pulls assets out of European banks
Iran has withdrawn a huge sum of its foreign exchange reserves from European banks and has deposited some of it into Asian banks.
Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad orders banks to move assets to beat EU
The president of Iran has ordered the country’s leading banks to transfer billions of dollars of assets from Europe to the Central Bank to prevent them being frozen by international sanctions, according to Western diplomats.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ordered the move amid growing concern that Iranian banks would soon be subject to strengthened European Union-level sanctions. But his action has caused friction with Tahmaseb Mazaheri, the governor of the Central Bank. The Iranian press has reported that he may resign over the issue - Telegraph, UK
Iran’s economic policy falls victim to political feuds
When a nation faces an external threat there is a general tendency to close ranks and put aside internal disagreements. It seems that no one among Iran’s economic policy-makers is paying much attention to this centuries-old rule.
While the US and its allies are intensifying economic and financial sanctions against Iran, Iranian officials are locked in an escalating dispute over several sensitive economic policies such as reorganisation of state-owned banks and determination of interest rates. -Nader Habibi, Gulf News, UAE
“Based on a decision made by a government working group, Iran has switched to ‘genuine’ assets like gold and shares... We have decreased our foreign currency holdings in international banks,” said Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Economic Affairs, Mohsen Talaei.
“A portion of Iran’s foreign exchange reserves, however, was moved to Asian banks,” he added in his interview with Borna news agency published on Monday.
They have moved assets before:
Friday, 20 January 2006, 17:45 GMT
Iran ‘moves assets out of Europe’
Iran could face sanctions if it is brought before the UN
Iran has started moving its foreign exchange reserves out of Europe in a bid to shield the country from the threat of sanctions, reports suggest.
Iran’s central bank governor said the country had begun withdrawing assets from European banks, the Iranian Students News Agency reported...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4632144.stm
...............I doubt all of Iran’s European assets are in a current account.
I couldn’t divest my money from a foreign country in just two weeks: not without taking a thumping loss. I doubt a country with 70 million inhabitants could either.............
Yeah, but they’re not talking about doing a Chavez, and just take all the assets. All they wanted to freeze was the cash and notes.
Easy for Iran to repatriate their liquid assets in a few weeks!
Closing the barn door after all the horses have fled.
Brilliant job.
The Iranian nutjobs had fair warning and had long removed every pence.
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