US Treasury Sanctions Iran’s Central Bank and Sovereign Wealth Fund
Posted on 09/21/2019
Spurred by terrorism charges and Iran’s attack against Saudi Arabia’s oil infrastructure,
the U.S. Department of Treasury,
the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC),
issued sanctions against Iran’s central bank and National Development of Iran. In effect, all property and interests in property of these entities that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons must be blocked and reported to OFAC.
OFAC’s regulations
generally prohibit all dealings by U.S. persons or within (or transiting) the United States that involve any property or interests in property of blocked or designated persons.
The U.S. Treasury
released a press release, “Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) took action against the Central Bank of Iran (CBI),
the National Development Fund of Iran (NDF), and Etemad Tejarate Pars Co. under its counterterrorism authority, Executive Order (E.O.) 13224.
Iran’s Central Bank
has provided billions of dollars to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), its Qods Force (IRGC-QF) and its terrorist proxy, Hizballah.
Iran’s NDF,
which is Iran’s sovereign wealth fund and whose board of trustees include Iran’s president, oil minister, and the governor of the Central Bank,
has been a major source of foreign currency and funding for the IRGC-QF and Iran’s Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics (MODAFL).
Etemad Tejarate Pars,
also designated today, is an Iran-based company that is used to conceal financial transfers for MODAFL’s military purchases, including funds originating from the NDF.”
SWFI