Page 31 - IRANRptNov18

Chinese banks revoke Iranians’ Visa, Mastercard credit cards under US sanctions pressure
The apparent U-turn emerged as Belgium-based SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) declined to adhere to US demands to disconnect Iranian banks still in its system. It has cited fears that the move might cause a lack of financial connectivity for banks that could then translate into trade disruption sparking food shortages in Iran.
Unnamed US officials familiar with the situation reportedly told the US publication that Iran would remain connected to SWIFT, despite the stance of Iran uber-hawks such as US National Security Advisor John Bolton, who has advocated disconnecting Iran from all international trade.
"The Europeans are clowning the Americans," one source familiar with the recent discussions between American and European officials was cited as saying. "They sold [Treasury Secretary Steve] Mnuchin on this idea that keeping Iran on SWIFT will generate intelligence—the word they keep using is ‘leads'—and Mnuchin is now echoing Obama talking points about how sanctioning some banks is enough."
The unnamed person reportedly added: "[...] the Europeans and Iranians are publicly gloating because they know that as long as Iran stays on SWIFT, they can wait out Trump."
Fearing a blanket ban on Iranian banks being connected to SWIFT , French officials were looking to keep at least one Iranian bank connected to the financial telecommunication system , AFP reported on October 22.
Chinese banks are in the process of revoking the Visa and Mastercard credit cards of Iranian customers to comply with US sanctions reimposed against Tehran, according to the director of the Iran Chamber of Commerce for Industries, Mining and Trade (ICCIMA), Pedram Soltani. Since early summer, Iranians banking abroad in several countries have had their accounts shut or limited as lenders and countries grow wary of being partly or completely shut out of the US financial system as a penalty for maintaining business links with the Islamic Republic.
ICCIMA head Soltani said Chinese banks were rigorously enforcing the extra-territorial US banking sanctions, fearing, for instance, that they could be barred by Washington from trading with US dollars. However, where China is concerned, Tehran’s main concern will be that Beijing sticks to its policy of continuing to accept Iran’s lifeline oil exports despite US pressure to cut them to zero in line with a November 5 deadline. The Chinese are the biggest importer of Iranian crude. They have rejected the Trump administration sanctions as they are not UN-approved.
Iranians holding UnionPay cards issued by China’s banking payment system do not appear affected by the current difficulties described by Soltani.
Iranian embassies and consulates in several countries are in intensive discussions with representative banks and foreign governments to push them to keep banking channels open to Iranians abroad.
US officials, on the other hand, continue to tour the globe urging countries to shut down banking, oil and a great many other commercial links with Iran. One recent incident saw the Georgian bank accounts of Iranian customers switched to lari-only transactions, while their payment cards were limited to spending in Georgia only.
31 IRAN Country Report November 2018 www.intellinews.com