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Iran Braces for Full Force of U.S. Sanctions
(Christian Science Monitor) Roshanak Taghavi - U.S. sanctions set to hit Tehran on Feb. 6 will formally regulate global banking constraints that Iranian banks and businesses have been facing, on an informal basis, for more than two years. The aim of the new measure is for Tehran's oil revenues to become largely "shackled" within any country buying oil from Iran. This means Iran's international oil customers - even those with U.S. waivers allowing them to purchase Iranian oil - will officially be at risk of being cut off from the U.S. banking system if they allow transfers of Iran's oil revenues back to Tehran's Central Bank. A considerable chunk of Tehran's oil revenues have already been tied up and locked in international bank accounts for more than two years because of U.S. sanctions legislation. As a result, roughly 80% of Iran's financial transactions have been re-channeled through banks in Turkey, South Korea, India, China, and Russia. "Those who are going to deal with Iran will keep doing so, but it's going to get harder to pay them," says Erich Ferrari, a Washington-based lawyer specializing in sanctions.