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U.S. seeking support for more sanctions on Iran’s central bank: official

14 October 2011 23:53 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. The U.S. is seeking multilateral support in an effort to impose additional sanctions on Iran’s central bank, said a senior U.S. official on Friday, as the two countries are caught in unusual tensions sparked by the alleged murder plot on a Saudi ambassador, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

"Yes, we are engaging in an effort to develop the multilateral support that would be, I think, critically important in having an action against the CBI (Central Bank of Iran) really be effective, " David Cohen, U.S. Under Secretary of Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, said at a hearing held by the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

"Further U.S. action against the CBI, if it attained multilateral support, could further isolate the CBI, with a potentially powerful impact on Iran," he warned.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Justice Department alleged that two men, Manssor Arbabsayar, a 56-year-old U.S. citizen holding both the Iranian and U.S. passports, and Gholam Shakuri, an Iranian citizen, were charged with sponsoring and promoting terrorist activities abroad, including a plot to kill the Saudi Ambassador to Washington Adel Al-Jubeir. Iranian authorities have denied the U.S. claim as fabrication.

Cohen said the U.S. has imposed comprehensive sanctions on Iran for almost two decades, including sanctions on the Central Bank of Iran.

"So there is no U.S. financial institution that has any dealings with the CBI, including the Federal Reserve," said Cohen, adding that the CBI is "essentially completely cut off" from the U. S..

According to Cohen, work is "under way" to elicit multilateral respect for further action against the