By NNN-KUNA,
United Nations : Daniel Glaser, US Treasury Department’s Deputy Assistance Secretary for terrorist Financing and Financial crimes, on Wednesday said Iran is feeling the pinch of UN sanctions, constantly looking for ways to avoid them, and urged the international community to be ahead of Tehran’s games.
“Iran is continuing to use entities like front companies. Iran is continuing to have its banks disguise transactions, other banks step in to the place of banks that have been designated for sanctions,” Glaser told reporters on his way to the UN Security Council sanctions committee against Iran to brief its members on the measures taken by the US Administration to countermine Iran’s “deceptive” policy of avoiding UN sanctions.
“Iran is trying to adjust to the efforts of the international financial community. So we continue to work with each other and with our partners around the world to make sure that we stay well ahead in this activity,” he added.
“Implementing these types of provisions,” he stressed, “is extremely important both to protect the international financial system from abuse by Iran and also by putting the types of financial pressure on Iran we all like to see in order to persuade Iran to change its behaviour,” he argued.
“The key there as we move forward in this system is to make sure that these provisions are being implemented aggressively and vigourously and comprehensibly by all the members of the UN,” he stressed.
“The reason why it is important to keep this up by the UN, in capitals and the EU,” he explained, “is because Iran is continuing to adapt to the measures that we have taken.” The US government earlier today sanctioned an Iranian shipping company and 18 of its affiliates for assisting the Iranian government in pursuing its nuclear programme in defiance of UN demands to halt uranium enrichment activities.
The action also prohibits US citizens from dealing with Iran Shipping Lines or their subsidiaries.
UN Security Council issued three sets of sanctions against Iran for ignoring the demand to suspend those enrichment activities.
Iran denies western allegations that it is developing nuclear weapons and insists its nuclear programme is peaceful and is meant to supply electricity.