American squeeze on Iran presses on London
The US Treasury has taken two courses of action. Both affect the ability of the UK subsidiaries of four Iranian-owned banks to do business in London. Officially it has imposed sanctions against Bank Saderat and Bank Sepah, including their branches in Europe and their UK subsidiaries. The US Treasury publicly accuses both banks of sponsoring terrorist activities and has cut them off from the US financial system.
At the same time, the US Treasury has put informal pressure on international banks to cease doing business with any Iranian banks, including their UK subsidiaries, irrespective of whether they have been accused of any wrongdoing.
Although Iranian banks are not able to do business in the US, thanks...
