Thursday, August 15, 2013

LARGE US BANKS FLAUNT IRANIAN SANCTIONS BY PLACING CREDIT CARDS INTO IRANIAN HANDS THROUGH THIRD PARTIES

(see * below)
Evidence has emerged that indicates that several of America's largest financial institutions are profiting from the international sanctions against Iran, by gaining Iranians as clients for their credit card offerings, using banks located in the Middle East, and in the independent, former Soviet republics in Central Asia.
Since the clients are only indirect customers of the US banks, there is no strict violation of the letter of the laws on sanctions, though the spirit of the law has certainly been broken.

How can this happen, you ask ? Though the end users are Iranian nationals, the direct contract is between the US and a bank in, for example, Azerbaijan, Armenia, or even New Zealand. This cute arrangement allows the American banks to sidestep the sanctions, and earn a healthy profit, all hidden from public view. Is this not unethical and illegal  ? What do you think ?

Remember that a number of large American corporations, and Wall Street firms,  openly traded with Nazi Germany, prior to the entry of the United States into the Second World War on 8 December, 1941. Since the Iran sanctions are the functional equivalent of economic war, should US banks really be reaping excess profits from Iranian nationals ? I think not.

We have previously disclosed on this blog that one major credit card supplier has placed three million cards in Iran. Unfortunately, due to the increased involvement of big US banks, the number is much larger than it was when that article appeared.

This brings us to the question: Why is the US Treasury Department no taking action, against both the banks and the credit card companies ? If hostilities do erupt between the United States and Iran, over the illegal WMD and ballistic missile programs, will we find out later that American companies aided and abetted our enemy, and can anyone say Excess Profits Tax ?
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* illustration for educational purposes only; not a real credit card.


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