US Seeking to 'Close Down' Iran Central Bank

Friday, January 13, 2012

The latest round of American sanctions are aimed at shutting down Iran's central bank, a senior US official said Thursday, spelling out that intention directly for the first time.

"We do need to close down the Central Bank of Iran (CBI)," the official told reporters on condition of anonymity, while adding that the United States is moving quickly to implement the sanctions, signed into law last month.

The sanctions, broadly aimed at forcing Tehran to shift course on its nuclear program, targeted Iran's crucial oil sector and required foreign firms to make a choice between doing business with Iran or the United States./blockquote>

Foreign central banks that deal with the Iranian central bank on oil transactions could also face similar restrictions under the new law, which has sparked fears of damage to US ties with nations like Russia and China.

"If a correspondent bank of a US bank wants to do business with us and they're doing business with CBI or other designated Iranian banks... then they're going to get in trouble with us," the US official said.

I have to think that this may cause blowback in the form of many countries developing a gold-backed currency to use and trade in. Will all these countries dump their dollars for gold? If I'm the central banker in Russia, China, Syria, Iran and many South American countries, I'm thinking completely in terms of how to be less vulnerable to the U.S. empire gone mad. Gold is one answer.