In Letter to White House, UANI Calls on President Obama to Support Sanctions Against Iran's Central Bank

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

December 5, 2011

Contact: Nathan Carleton, [email protected]

Phone: (212) 554-3296

In Letter to White House, UANI Calls on President Obama to Support Sanctions Against Iran's Central Bank 

New York, NY - On Monday, United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) wrote to President Barack Obama, and called on him to support sanctions against Iran's Central Bank.

The Obama administration has been resisting such sanctions, even though all 100 members of the U.S. Senate voted last week to add them by amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act.

In a Monday letter to President Obama, UANI President, Ambassador Mark D. Wallace, wrote:

... UANI is concerned about recent reports that your administration is opposed to placing comprehensive, robust sanctions against the regime, including against Bank Markazi, Iran's central bank.  As you are aware, such action has broad support as demonstrated most recently by the unanimous passage in the Senate of an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act ("NDAA"), requiring sanctions on financial institutions that do business with Bank Markazi. This amendment followed an earlier letter you received from 92 Senators urging similar action. Bank Markazi is the financial nerve center of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps ("IRGC"), the entity directly responsible for Iran's proliferation procurement efforts and sponsorship of terrorist activities.  There is perhaps no other entity than Bank Markazi which, if sanctioned, would put substantive pressure on the Iranian regime to enter into meaningful negotiations.

Any short-term economic disruption that may result from sanctioning Bank Markazi pales in comparison to the disruption that will be unleashed should Iran acquire a nuclear weapon.  While hopefully the United States can persuade other members of the international community to support an imposition of sanctions against Bank Markazi, the imposition of even unilateral sanctions would severely hamper Bank Markazi, and by consequence the IRGC, from operating internationally.

Click here to read UANI's full letter to President Obama.

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