The Treasury Department has announced new sanctions against a Malaysian Bank and a handful of other businesses, claiming they are involved in a “far-reaching plot” by the Iranian government to sell oil to other people.
The US has sought to prevent Iran from selling oil, except to a handful of nations hand-picked by the Obama Administration to receive waivers, and has sought to limit Iran’s ability to either get paid for that oil or to spend the money buying other things from other nations.
US efforts to keep Iran entirely off of the international banking market has led Iranian companies to return to a gold-based barter system, and even that has been severely restricted by US threats of further sanctions for anyone caught trading gold for oil.
Indeed, this effort to ban trading in gold in that it is trading at all was the centerpiece of the US proposal at the latest P5+1 meeting, in which Iran would give up materially its entire civilian nuclear program in return for US permission to engage in limited gold-based trading.
Treasury Under Secretary David S. Cohen termed Iran’s effort to sell oil for actual money as an essence mirroring “criminal money laundering techniques,” going on to brag that Iran was “not being terribly successful” in engaging in international commerce and promising ongoing US vigilance to prevent Iran from “abuse” of the global financial system.
If anyone is guilty of money laundering and abuse of the global financial system it has to be the US government and the phony petrodollar charade. And, of course, they despise the use of gold for trade because that is seen as a threat to their monopoly over fiat non-money through the use of a hard tangible asset. Mustn't have any of that!
"promising ongoing US vigilance to prevent Iran from “abuse” of the global financial system."
Ha, ha. That's like the Mafia accusing a petty shoplifter of criminal abuse.
Not much has left to be sanctioned in Iran. The savages are killing people. When are you going to sanction IRANIAN ERECTION idiots?
Man.., these people in the end will sanction the world to death.., in the other hand…, what is going around comes around.
The nerve of those Iranians, wanting to sell one of their own natural resources–oil–for real money! Can't have any of that in the Zionist World Order. And Iran is one of three nations remaining on Earth, along with North Korea and Cuba, that does not have a Zionist-owned central bank.
Thank-you David Cohen. I'm sure you are doing the best thing for the United States and that israel has nothing to do with our policy towards Iran.
They are upset because Iran has oil, and wants to sell it? Wow.
cohen is an israeli spy…