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Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/28/AR2006052800999.html
U.S. Urges Financial Sanctions on Iran
(Washington Post) Dafna Linzer - The Bush administration is pressing Europe and Japan to impose wide-ranging sanctions designed to stifle the Iranian leadership financially if diplomatic efforts fail to resolve an impasse over the country's nuclear program. Developed by a Treasury Department task force that reports directly to Secretary of State Rice, the plan is designed to curtail the financial freedom of every Iranian official, individual, and entity the Bush administration considers connected not only to nuclear enrichment efforts but to terrorism, government corruption, suppression of religious or democratic freedom, and violence in Iraq, Lebanon, Israel, and the Palestinian territories. It would restrict the Tehran government's access to foreign currency and global markets, shut its overseas accounts, and freeze assets held in Europe and Asia. But internal U.S. assessments suggest that the sanctions could not hurt Tehran without causing significant economic pain for Washington's friends, which makes the plan a difficult sell in capitals such as Rome and Tokyo, which import significant quantities of Iranian oil.