Category: Iran

U.S. Treasury nears decision on expanding Iran sanctions

The United States Treasury is close to a decision whether to blacklist more banks that appear to be defying sanctions against Iran, including an institution in Turkey, a senior Treasury official said on Tuesday.

David Cohen, nominated to be Treasury’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial crimes, told a U.S. Senate confirmation hearing that he will vigorously enforce the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability and Disinvestment Act (CISADA)

The law, aimed at curbing Iran’s nuclear program, effectively requires banks to choose between dealing with the U.S.-led financial system or to continue doing business with Iran.

Members of the Senate Banking Committee questioned Cohen on why Treasury had not sanctioned any banks under CISADA, which was passed in July 2010 to enforce tougher UN sanctions against Iran.

“We are pursuing the leverage” against banks dealing with Iran, Cohen said. “Our first option is to get them to stop. Our second best option is to apply sanctions. Without getting into the details of any particular investigation, we are getting close to a decision point on several institutions,” Cohen did not name any of the banks, but said that one institution in Turkey was effectively violating the sanctions.

“We are committed to enforcing the law,” Cohen added. “Generically, we have a financial institution (in Turkey) that is not responsive to our overtures and it is engaged in activity that is sanctionable under CISADA. We will pursue that very vigorously.”

Senator Robert Menendez, a Democrat from New Jersey, said he was concerned that Treasury had not adequately enforced the CISADA law.

“I am seriously concerned that as one of the prime movers of that legislation, that a sanctions regime that ultimately goes largely unenforced or to low-level players, sends the message of a toothless tiger,” Menendez said.

He added that he wanted a sense that Cohen, who is now serving as acting undersecretary, would pursue sanctions under CISADA before he would support Cohen’s nomination.

via U.S. Treasury nears decision on expanding Iran sanctions – Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News.

May 4, 2011
tehran times : Turkey rebuffs U.S. pressure against Iranian bank

Turkey rebuffs U.S. pressure against Iranian bank

Tehran Times Economic Desk

TEHRAN – Ankara has refused U.S. request for limiting activities of Iranian Mellat Bank branches in Turkey, IRNA quoted a BBC Persian service report on Thursday.

U.S. has tried hard to narrow Iran financial transactions in recent years for pressuring Tehran not follow its peaceful nuclear program.

U.S. deputy treasury secretary traveled to Ankara last week and held talks with Turkish officials to persuade Turkey limit Mellat Bank activities in Turkey.

Washington claims that the bank’s branches in Turkey involve in illicit activities. Washington wanted from Turkish banks to refrain from doing business with any Iranian banks which U.S. claims they are “suspected of proliferation activities”. Mellat Bank has now three branches in the country located in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir.

In response to U.S. pressures, Turkey has said that Mellat Bank isn’t in the list of Iranian banks sanctioned by the United Nations, and Ankara repeatedly declared that has no obligation to following unilateral sanctions of U.S. and EU against Iran, IRNA reported.

“By the fact that it’s not the first time U.S. asks such requests and moreover Turkey emphasized it is impossible to cut trade relations with Iran, a neighbor which is one of the Turkey’s gas suppliers, it doesn’t seem that Turkey would accept the Washington request”, the report further said

via tehran times : Turkey rebuffs U.S. pressure against Iranian bank.

May 1, 2011
US warns Turkey against financial transactions with Iran

Istanbul – The United States has warned Turkey against conducting financial transactions with Iran and asked Ankara to halt the operations of an Iranian state-run bank in the country, local media reported Thursday.

David Cohen, the US acting undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, on Wednesday urged Ankara to ‘isolate’ Bank Mellat’s branches in Turkey, Milliyet newspaper reported.

Cohen said during a visit to Turkey this week that the bank – which has three branches in Turkey – is facilitating financial transactions that support Iran’s nuclear programme.

The US, European Union and some South Asian countries have imposed restrictions on Bank Mellat’s operations.

Turkey has come under criticism in recent months for strengthening trade ties with Iran as Western nations attempt to isolate the country financially over disagreements about Tehran’s nuclear programme.

Turkey said earlier this year that its trade volume with Iran had reached 10 billion dollars annually and that it hoped to increase the figure to 30 billion.

via US warns Turkey against financial transactions with Iran – Monsters and Critics.

April 30, 2011
India May Route Iran Crude Oil Payments Via Turkey

By RAKESH SHARMA

NEW DELHI—India is looking at using Turkish banks to pay Iran for crude oil, a senior Indian oil-ministry official said Wednesday, as a U.S. official said Turkey’s commercial banks should avoid transactions with Iranian banks the U.S. has identified as conduits for financing of Tehran’s nuclear program.

The oil-ministry official’s remarks came as the U.S. Treasury proposed regulations that would require U.S. financial institutions to divulge information about foreign bank customers that do business with Iran.

Asked about the Indian proposal, David S. Cohen, acting U.S. undersecretary of state for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in Istanbul, where he was meeting with senior government officials and banking executives, that Turkey’s cooperation with sanctions aimed at pressuring Tehran was “critical.”

The question of crude-oil payments to Iran came into focus in December, when India’s central bank stopped payments to Tehran through the Asian Clearing Union, where participants settle payments for intraregional transactions among member central banks, helping economize the use of foreign exchange and transfer costs. India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Iran, Myanmar, Bhutan, the Maldives and Sri Lanka are members. India then made some overdue payments to Iran through Germany’s Bundesbank.

But, according to media reports, Germany stopped accepting money from India for Iranian oil payments following criticism from the U.S. and Israeli governments.

The official said supplies from Iran haven’t been disrupted, but that India needs to find a payment mechanism quickly, as it meets four-fifths of its total crude-oil needs through imports.

“Iran has been ungrudging in supply. They continue to supply as our credibility is very high in the international market,” he said, adding that “we are exploring various options” and that “we are trying through Turkey.”

India imported 21.2 million tons of crude oil from Iran in the year ended March 31, 2010, about 13% of its total crude imports.

Mangalore Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd., which imports about 7.6 million tons of crude annually from Iran, said earlier this month that it is defaulting on payments for about two shipments every week from Iran.

Another oil ministry official said Wednesday that it could take another two months for the wider payments issue to be resolved.

“There is no threat to supplies, as Iran has assured supplies will continue. They know we are working on a solution, and are serious about it,” the official said.

—Joseph Palazzolo in Washington, D.C., and Marc Champion in Istanbul contributed to this article.

Write to Rakesh Sharma at rakesh.sharma@dowjones.com

via India May Route Iran Crude Oil Payments Via Turkey – WSJ.com.

April 28, 2011
Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Syria to create common visa system?

By DINA AL-SHIBEEB

Al Arabiya

Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (R) shakes hands with Iraq's prime minister Nouri Al-Maliki during an official meeting in Tehran. (File Photo)

Iran’s president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (R) shakes hands with Iraq’s prime minister Nouri Al-Maliki during an official meeting in Tehran. (File Photo)

Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria are to establish a common visa system, the Russian agency Regnum quoted the Iranian vice-minister of tourism as saying on Tuesday.

The four states are preparing to install a “Schengen-like” regime, Shahbaz Yezdi said, in reference to Europe’s Schengen Zone. Under the system, one visa is issued and travelers can move between 25 of the European Union’s 27 countries without needing a visa for each country. The United Kingdom and Ireland do not subscribe to the Schengen system

Mr. Yezdi also said that the initiative was based on an idea of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey.

“Putting into place uniform visas for the four countries will actively boost the development of tourism,” Mr. Yezdi said.

In 2010, the currently embattled Syrian president Bashar al-Assad proposed a visa-free travel region for Syria, Iran, Turkey and other neighboring countries, and he said that he was the first to advent the issue starting with a visa-free travel between Turkey and Syria.

The fact that former foes Iraq and Iran would share a common system would be quite remarkable, especially in view of their bitter history. Iraq has fought Iran for eight years from 1980 to 1988.

But Iraq has since mended relations with Iran as both now have Shiite-dominated governments.

Just like Iran, Iraq raised its concern over troops from the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia going to Bahrain as unrest by the Shiite-led opposition escalated. Iraq has joined Iran in describing the move as interference and against Bahrain’s sovereignty. But the Gulf countries see the threat against one Gulf country as a threat on all six.

Meanwhile, the six countries belonging to the Gulf Cooperation Council are also inching to cement their bloc. Recently the Gulf States’ economy and finance ministers initially agreed to lift hurdles for GCC nationals to own real estate in other Gulf States and to facilitate flow of capital money with the Gulf region.

GCC nationals now can enter other Gulf States only with an identity card. But unifying the region’s currencies still seems like a distant proposition.

Prior to the current unrest in Yemen, Turkey boosted its trade ties with the Qaeda-beleaguered country and lifted the visa requirement for the Yemeni nationals entering Turkey.

With the AKP conservative party winning election in 2002, it re-shifted Turkey’s foreign policy to look eastward toward the Middle East, but held its promise to help the country join the European Union (EU).

AKP, unlike its secular predecessor, carried more economically-friendly policies and sought to expand the country’s trade including tapping into the Middle East markets.

AKP also promised to democratize Turkey’s current constitution, which was originally drafted by the former military junta in 1980.

(Dina Al-Shibeeb of Al Arabiya can be reached at: dina.ibrahim@mbc.net)

via Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Syria to create common visa system?.

April 27, 2011
Expert: Washington brushes aside anything that can harm relations with Turkey

PanARMENIAN.Net – Gaidz Minassian, associate researcher at the Foundation of Strategic Research, said that the agreement between Turkey and Brazil on Iran, in 2010, opened a new stage of negotiations between the U.S. and Turkey.

“For Washington, Iran has become a strategic priority. In Ankara, the Iranian issue allows it to strengthen its regional influence among Muslims states,” Minassian told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter.

“Turks and Americans have thus found a common ground to cooperate on the Iranian problem. That is why Washington brushes aside anything that can harm relations with Turkey. Other issues are secondary, including the Armenian Genocide. Hence, the burial of resolution H.Res 252 in the U.S. Congress, the appointment of Francis J. Ricciardone as the U.S. ambassador to Turkey despite the Senate hold, Americans’ confidence of the ratification of the protocols signed between Turkey and Armenia and the statements by Barack Obama on April 24 without the Genocide word are part of U.S. strategic partnership with Turkey,” he said.

via Expert: Washington brushes aside anything that can harm relations with Turkey – PanARMENIAN.Net.

April 27, 2011