Treasury Designates Bank Sepah of Iran for Supporting WMD Proliferation Firms
January 2007
Bottom Line:
This action has virtually no impact on companies who export or reexport US origin items. The primary impact of this action is on a narrow band of financial transactions involving banks.
In June of 2005, President Bush issued Executive Order 13382 authorizing significant financial sanctions on WMD proliferators and any firms or individuals who provided support or services to them. Upon its issuance, the President identified eight entities in North Korea, Syria and Iran for their support of WMD proliferation.
Iran’s 5th largest bank, Bank Sepah, was designated for doing business with three of those designated entities: Iran’s AIO (Aerospace Industries Organization) which oversees all of Iran’s missiles programs, the Shahid Hemmat Industries Group (SHIG) which oversees Iran’s ballistic missile program, and the Shahid Bakeri Industries Group (SBIG) which is also involved in the missile program of Iran.
Also designated were Ahmad Derakhshandeh, Bank Sepah’s Chairman and Director, and Bank Sepah International Plc, a subsidiary of Bank Sepah in the UK.
