Treasury Acts Against Iranians
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Bush administration took action Friday against two Iranians suspected of connections to Iran’s nuclear program.
The Treasury Department action, part of efforts to tighten the financial vise on Tehran, is against Mohammad Qannadi and Ali Hajinia Leilabadi. Any bank accounts or other financial assets belonging to these two men found in the United States must be frozen. In addition, American are forbidden from doing business with them.
It marked the department’s latest move to use targeted financial measures against Iran, a country the United States accused of fostering terrorism and whose nuclear ambitions have drawn international rebuke.
“Even individuals who are active in Iran’s nuclear program are going to be held to account for their conduct and isolated by the international financial community,” said Stuart Levey, the department’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.
Iran’s defiance of U.N. Security Council demands that it stop uranium enrichment and construction of a plutonium-producing reactor has led to two sets of economic sanctions against Iran. The stage has been set for a third round of U.N. Security Council penalties.
