UPI, Washington, Sept. 10, 2010 — A decision by South Korea to impose unilateral sanctions on Iran is indicative of the frustration with Iran’s nuclear program, a senior U.S. lawmaker said.
The government of South Korea announced Wednesday it will penalize a key Iranian bank and put nearly all financial transactions with Iran under government supervision.
The Seoul branch of Iran’s Bank Mellat has been accused of facilitating hundreds of millions of dollars in transactions for Iranian nuclear, missile and defense entities.
U.S. Sen. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said he welcomed the unilateral move as a sign of the growing condemnation of Iran’s weapons and nuclear activity.
’South Korea joins an emerging consensus of states that have demonstrated the consequences of Iran’s failure to meet its international obligations, and I am hopeful that its actions will serve as an example and encourage other nations to take action to prevent Iranian nuclear proliferation,’ Skelton said in a statement.
The U.S. Treasury Department announced this week it was sanctioning German bank Europaisch-Iranische Handelsbank for ’actively facilitating’ business with Iranian banks that Washington says are connected to arms exporters in Iran.
The Hamburg bank is accused of working with Iranian financial institutions Bank Mellat, Persia International Bank, the Export Development Bank of Iran and Post Bank of Iran, all of which are the subject of Washington and European sanctions.