US imposes sanctions on Iran's Central Bank

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Donald Trump has decided to toughen his tone with Iran. Photo: AFP / VNA / CVN

US President Donald Trump announced the new decision at the White House before meeting Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who is visiting Washington, and called the new sanctions imposed on Tehran "the most severe sanctions ever imposed on a country".

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who accompanied Trump to the Oval Office, said the Central Bank was Tehran's latest source of funds.

"We have now cut off all sources of funding from Iran ", he added.

In a statement released later, the US Treasury announced that it had blacklisted the Iranian Central Bank and its National Development Fund, which would have been used to "transfer foreign currency reserves from Iran to terrorist emissaries".

Etemad Tejarate Pars, a company established in Iran, has also been designated because Washington accuses him of concealing financial transfers that the Iranian government has allegedly used for military purchases.

In the statement, Mr. Mnuchin says that the action of the Treasury is part of the "maximum pressure campaign (by the United States) against Iran", and also believes that Iran's attack on Saudi Arabia is "unacceptable".

Washington said Iran was behind drone attacks on oil facilities in eastern Saudi Arabia on Saturday (September 14th), saying Tehran has strongly denied.

The latest sanctions come two days after Trump revealed in a tweet that he had asked Mr Mnuchin "to considerably tighten the sanctions against Iran ".

Following its unilateral withdrawal last year from the Iranian nuclear deal reached in 2015, Washington has intensified the pressure on Tehran by imposing a series of sanctions to force Iran to resume negotiations. Iran, however, maintains a firm stance and promises to retaliate against the US anti-Iranian measures.

Xinhua / VNA / CVN