Britain Lifts Sanctions on Export Development Bank

The UK Treasury announced the lifting of sanctions on Iran's Export Development Bank and the release of the bank's assets. In a statement released on Tuesday (October 25), the Treasury declared that it has removed the Export Development Bank of Iran from its list of sanctioned institutions. This Iranian bank had previously been blacklisted due to nuclear-related sanctions imposed against Iran. The English-language media outlet Press TV reported on Tuesday that this decision was made 'in line with changes in EU regulations regarding the lifting of sanctions against Iran.' According to these regulations, the Export Development Bank of Iran was under sanctions until October 22, 2016, and after this date, 'the Export Development Bank of Iran and Export Development Company are no longer subject to restrictive measures imposed by these regulations, including asset freezes.' An Iranian banking official stated on Tuesday in an interview with Mehr News Agency that the released assets of the Export Development Bank by the UK will be activated at the bank's London branch. He noted that 'the UK Treasury's decision was made six months ago, which stipulated that within six months, the blocked assets of the Export Development Bank would be released.' Fars News Agency also reported that the EU's Regulatory Enforcement Council amended its 2012 resolution regarding the freezing of the Export Development Bank's assets and removed the bank from the list of sanctioned institutions. The EU's Regulatory Enforcement Council had passed a resolution on March 23, 2012, which led to the freezing of the Export Development Bank's assets. This news agency stated that the removal of barriers to establishing financial relations between Iranian institutions and their international counterparts was one of the commitments of the 1+5, and 'the failure of the West to adhere to this has repeatedly caused dissatisfaction among the high-ranking officials of the Islamic Republic of Iran.' The Bank of England has also lifted sanctions against three other Iranian banks following the signing of the JCPOA. The banks 'Melli', 'Persia International', and 'Sepah International' are the three banks for which the Bank of England announced the lifting of sanctions in January of this year. However, the process of lifting US and Western sanctions is not satisfactory to Iranian officials, and they are calling for a speeding up of this process.