Governor of the Central Bank of Iran rebuked the US and European governments for not honoring their commitments for speedy implementation of Iran’s nuclear deal calling on them to do their best in assuring foreign firms to reengage with Iran.
Valiollah Seif asked western governments to either hold more ‘’face-to-face meetings’ with their banks or change their regulations, or else the JCPOA would buckle under” its own terms and contradictions.
“Nothing has happened for nearly three months [January 16, when the sanctions were lifted]. US has taken some measures like travelling to other countries to elaborate terms of the deal, or issuing licenses, but these are not sufficient as we still do not have access to our frozen assets,” he said Friday, in a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington DC.
On his meeting with US Treasury Secretary Jacob J Lew on Thursday he said, “We discussed almost the same issues, it was not something specific. We are looking for speedy implementation of the nuclear agreement as enshrined in its text.”
Lew and Seif held a meeting on the sidelines of International Monetary Fund and World Bank spring meetings in Washington DC, where the former said the US will positively follow up its commitments to Iran as long as Iran does the same.
Seif complained that major EU banks are not bold enough and “do not have the valor to work with Iran” as they are told not to do so…and they fear the huge fines imposed by the US on a variety of pretexts in the past.
Strong Supervision
Elaborating on measures taken during the last two years to improve Iran’s banking system, the senior official said, “The CBI is expanding its supervision over the banking system, including the overseas branches. Legislation regarding money laundering has been passed by parliament and the banks must respect it.”
The CBI is “restructuring and recapitalizing our banks to be more transparent and compatible with the international banking norms, like the Basel committee standards”
In the last two years Iran’s economy had improved, Seif said. “We managed to reduce inflation from 40% two years ago to about 12% now. The foreign exchange market is more stable now and we are working to unify currency rates.”
He told the council that Iran has a transparent economy. “There are many companies in Iran that can provide you with your costumers’ data, so that foreigners will know who they are working with.”
Addressing the oft-mentioned concerns and allegations about Iran’s missile program, he said, “Our programs are entirely defensive. We (long back) came to the conclusion that we must rely only on our own capabilities.”
Condemning the terror, death and destruction unleashed across the globe by the so-called Islamic State (aka Daesh, ISIS), the banker said “No one can guarantee that Iran will not be ISIS’s next target.”
