US passes new law on sanctions

President Obama signs a new law intended to detect and punish individuals and companies that help Iran and Syria evade US sanctions.

Individuals and companies helping Iran and Syria to evade United States sanctions face the prospect of being cut off from American markets, under a new law signed yesterday by Barack Obama, the US president.

The executive order gives the US Treasury department the capability to publicly identify foreign individuals and companies and bar them from accessing the US financial and commercial systems.

The order gives the Treasury "additional means to impose serious consequences on foreign persons who seek to evade our sanctions and undermine international efforts to bring pressure to bear on the Iranian and Syrian regimes," said David Cohen, the US undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.

"Whoever tries to evade our sanctions does so at the expense of the people of Syria and Iran, and they will be held accountable."

The US has sought to tighten sanctions against Iran in the hope of deterring the country from acquiring a nuclear weapon. Iran's government says its nuclear programme is for civilian use.

As a result of laws passed this year, Iran has become completely cut off from the US and European financial systems as western governments used the threat of sanctions against Iran's trading partners to enforce an embargo on the country's oil exports.

In February, Noor Islamic Bank, the Dubai lender, announced it had severed all ties with Bank Melli Iran and Bank Saderat Iran in December, after the US applied pressure on Iran.

Hussain Al Qemzi, Noor's chief executive, said it was exposed to the Iranian lenders through the UAE's cheque clearing and ATM system and the move had been voluntary.

The US has designated 62 companies and 27 individuals in the UAE as the target of sanctions.

This month, the European Union placed eight UAE companies on a list of entities suspected of having links to Iran's military programmes.

The latest order from the US follows a week after the Treasury department froze property assets and placed travel bans upon people suspected of human rights abuses in Iran and Syria.

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