Mark Dubowitz — FDD's CSIF Research Memo
In 2012, Congress adopted legislation authorizing the president to impose sanctions on persons that provide financial messaging services to the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) or any other designated Iranian financial institution. This legislation led to the disconnection of the CBI and other Iranian banks from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) financial messaging service – widely seen as one of the most powerful sanctions imposed on Iran prior to the 2015 nuclear deal formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Iranian banks, however, were reconnected to SWIFT pursuant to the sanctions relief provided under the JCPOA... Read more