UAE central bank moves against Bank Melli Iran branches as US sanctions tighten the noose

The UAE Central Bank is taking aim at the local branches of Bank Melli Iran, Iran’s largest state-owned lender, in a move that reflects growing pressure from Washington on Gulf financial institutions to cut ties with sanctioned Iranian entities. The action comes directly in the wake of an August 28 designation by the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, which sanctioned Reza Mohammad Taeedi, the Iranian general manager of Bank Melli Iran’s Dubai branch, under Executive Order 13224, the US government’s primary counterterrorism financing authority. How a Dubai bank manager ended up on a Treasury blacklist Treasury’s case against Taeedi centers on Bank Melli Iran’s role facilitating financial transactions on behalf of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force, the external operations arm of the IRGC. Bank Melli Iran has operated under comprehensive US sanctions for years, yet its Dubai branches have continued to function under licenses issued and supervised by the Central Bank of the UAE. The CBUAE has launched what it describes as a “special and urgent examination” of the Bank Melli Iran branches operating within its jurisdiction. Operation Economic Outcast and t...