US lawmakers want Iran expelled from SWIFT banking network
They seek to drain regime’s resources for malign behaviour
Republican lawmakers are calling for Iran to be expelled from the main financial system that oversees international bank transfers, as the Trump administration steadily re-imposes sanctions on the country following the US withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal.
A group of 16 GOP senators led by Ted Cruz of Texas urged Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin on Thursday to take “all necessary steps” to disconnect Iran from the SWIFT network, which allows financial institutions to send and receive information about banking transactions.
“Quick robust enforcement will be critical for the administration’s
maximum pressure strategy to succeed, both immediately to drain the Iranian regime’s resources for malign behaviour and as a signal of America’s commitment to maintaining the integrity of our sanctions architecture,” they wrote. “The administration’s maximum pressure campaign will not succeed if the Islamic Republic remains connected to SWIFT.”
The letter was sent shortly after the EU announced its first
financial support package for Iran worth about $21 million to help keep the nuclear deal alive as numerous European companies withdraw from the country over fears of being subjected to US sanctions. It also came a day after Germany’s foreign minister called for Europe to create a banking payments system independent of the US, in another effort to maintain the agreement.
The US has charged two alleged agents of Iran, accusing them of conducting covert surveillance of Israeli and Jewish facilities in the United States.
They are also accused of collecting intelligence on Americans linked to a political organisation that wants to see the current Iranian government overthrown.
Earlier this week, Ahmad Reza Doostdar, 38, a dual US-Iranian citizen, and Majid Ghorbani, 59, were charged with acting as illegal agents for Tehran. Ghorbani, who denies the charges, became a legal US permanent resident in 2015.
Their arrests come as the Trump administration ratchets up pressure on Iran. The administration recently re-imposed sanctions on Iran to deny Tehran the funds it needs to finance terrorism, its missile programme and forces in conflicts in Yemen and Syria.
According to a criminal complaint filed in US District Court in Washington, Doostdar allegedly conducted surveillance in July 2017 on Rohr Chabad House, a Jewish student centre at the University of Chicago in Hyde Park. The surveillance included security features around the centre.
Most of the spying detailed in the court documents, however, focused on the Mujahideen-e-Khalq, a group outlawed in Iran and listed as a terrorist organisation by the State Department until 2012.
Despite deep ideological differences, the Mujahideen-e-Khalq were partners with Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in the 1979 revolution that toppled the US-backed Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Following the revolution, the Mujahideen-eKhalq quickly fell out with Khomeini and launched an armed revolt against Khomeini’s new theocracy. The group advocates for the overthrow of the current Iranian government.