US should feel responsible for Iran banking access: Seif

The head of Central Bank of Iran (CBI) has called on the United States to feel responsible for banking ambiguities impeding Iran’s access to European Union (EU) financial institutions.

CBI governor Valiollah Seif told IRNA news agency on Tuesday that Washington should feel more responsible about the removal of European banking ambiguities that hinder cooperation with Iranian banks.

Seif, who traveled to the US last week to participate in the spring convention of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), told IRNA that the US needed to act in lockstep with the Last July nuclear agreement which envisaged Iran’s access to international financial transaction.

The Americans can play a more serious and tangible role in helping lift such restrictions, he said, adding that during sanctions the US threatened every financial institute with hefty fines if they carried out business with Iran.

Now that sanctions are lifted, the Americans have not made any effective move to allay the concerns of European banks in restoring business with Iran, said the CBI chief.

On Tuesday, US Secretary of State John Kerry said since the lifting of anti-sanctions in January, Tehran has received only “about $3 billion” of its frozen assets overseas, contradicting some US presidential hopefuls who had claimed that Iran would, under the nuclear agreement, get $155 billion of blocked assets.

"We calculated it to be about $55 billion, when you really take a hard look at the economy and what is happening," Kerry said. "Guess what, folks? You know how much they have received to date as I stand here tonight? About $3 billion."

While Iranian deposits held abroad are supposed to be accessible, Seif said Friday that European banks are worried about running afoul of U.S. regulations. He wants the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control to issue guidelines encouraging European banks to be more receptive to Iran. Seif met Treasury Secretary Jack Lew Thursday on the sidelines of the IMF-World Bank meetings in Washington to discuss his concerns.

On Friday, the CBI chief hit out at the US and the EU for failing to honor the nuclear agreement by keeping Iran locked out of the international financial system.

US administration officials have ruled out granting Iran access to the US financial system or direct access to the dollar.

In a speech at the US Council on Foreign Relations, Seif complained that “almost nothing” has been done to reintegrate Iran into the global economy since implementation of the nuclear deal in January. 

“Unless serious efforts are made by our partners, in my view, they have not honored their obligations,” he said.

Seif warned that failure to do more to integrate Iranian banks into the global economy could jeopardize the nuclear agreement. 

Effective implementation of the agreement must be done “in such a way that Iran’s economic and business activities will be facilitated,” he said. Otherwise, the deal “breaks up on its own terms.”

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