mebb.de
Iran-Krise

Steven R. Weisman schreibt heute in der NYT eine Geschichte fort, die am 23. April schon mal im TIME Magazine erschien.

Top Treasury and State Department officials have intensified their efforts to limit Iran-related activities of major banks in Europe, the United States and the Middle East in the past six months, invoking antiterrorism and banking laws. They have also traveled to Europe and the Middle East to drive home the risky nature of dealing with a country that has repeatedly rebuffed Western demands over suspending uranium enrichment, and to urge European countries to take similar steps.

Ohne irgendeinen Sanktionsbeschluss des Sicherheitsrates beginnen die USA damit, auf eigene Faust Teheran finanziell unter Druck zu setzen.

Stuart A. Levey, the under secretary of the Treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence, said: “We are seeing banks and other institutions reassessing their ties to Iran. They are asking themselves if they really want to be handling business for entities owned by a government engaged in the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and support for terrorism.”

Das klingt so unschuldig wie die Aussagen des Schutzgelderpressers im Polizeiverhör.

Vier europäische Banken sind bislang nach Kenntnis der NYT auf diese Weise erfolgreich zur Einschränkung ihrer Irangeschäfte gedrängt worden: die Schweizer USB und Credit Suisse, die niederländische ABN Amro sowie die britische HSBC.

Sollte die einfache “Überzeugungskraft” nicht wirken, dann könnten die USA notfalls auch auf andere Mittel zurückgreifen.

UBS and ABN Amro are no strangers to the sting of American financial penalties for dealing with countries that the United States has wanted to isolate. UBS was fined $100 million by the Federal Reserve two years ago for the unauthorized movement of dollars to Iran and other countries like Libya and Yugoslavia, which were subject to American trade sanctions at the time. Last December, ABN Amro was fined $80 million for failure to comply with regulations against money laundering and with economic sanctions against Libya and Iran from 1997 to 2004.

Es ist allerdings zweifelhaft, ob dieser Druck viel bewirken wird.

“I don’t see that the pullout of a few European banks doing a tremendous amount of damage,” said Karim Sadjadpour, an analyst at the International Crisis Group, an advocacy organization. “They’re making $300 million a day from oil revenues, and they can weather the storm.”