Dubai: Most banks in the United Arab
Emirates, an important trading partner for Iran, have stopped
money transfers there after the latest round of sanctions on
the Islamic republic, bankers said today.
A Dubai-based Iranian businessman said that the latest
sanctions have halved trade with Dubai, an important re-export
centre for Iranian goods.
"We stopped transfers to Iran in all currencies in
July," an executive from an international bank, who spoke on
condition of anonymity said to a news agency.
The UN Security Council imposed a fourth round of
sanctions on June 9 over Iran's controversial programme of
uranium enrichment, which many Western states believe may be a
covert bid to make a nuclear bomb, a charge Tehran denies.
The United States and European Union have since
unilaterally imposed even tougher punitive measures, which
contain provisions to penalise Tehran's trading partners.
A banker with an Emirati bank said that transfers to
Iran in dollars and euros are now forbidden, and have become
"very difficult, if not impossible, in dirhams," the UAE's
currency.
"Transactions by Iranian clients are closely
monitored," the banker said, adding that certain activities by
Iranian clients, such as transfers to Asia to purchase goods,
are sometimes blocked.
"We used to deal with some banks in Tehran, but now it
is almost impossible," the banker said.
Bank accounts of some Iranian clients have been closed
recently, he added.
"The volume of trade between Dubai and Iran has been
reduced by 50 per cent compared to before the latest round of
sanctions, mainly due to bank restrictions," said Morteza
Masoumzadeh, vice president of the Iranian Business Council in
Dubai.
PTI
First Published: Sunday, September 05, 2010, 23:54