IRAN'S BANK MARKAZI: DEMARCHE DELIVERED TO UK

S E C R E T LONDON 003679 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/24/2017 TAGS: KNNP MNUC IR BO FR IT UK SUBJECT: IRAN'S BANK MARKAZI: DEMARCHE DELIVERED TO UK GOVERNMENT REF: STATE 132904 Classified By: Classified By: Political Counselor Rick Mills for reason s 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (S) Embassy on September 24 delivered ref demarche on the opening of a Bank Markazi account at Bank Saderat UK to HM Treasury and to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. ¶2. (S) According to FCO Iran Multilateral Team leader Will Gelling, HMG agrees that, even in the absence of a specific UN designation of Markazi as an entity, vigilant scrutiny of all Bank Markazi transactions is appropriate; he noted HMG and USG share views on preventing Iran from circumventing UN sanctions or in any way furthering its proliferation activities. ¶3. (S) HMT,s Patrick Guthrie, Head of Financial Sanctions Unit, said he would share the demarche with the Central Bank, and that HMG is very interested in pursuing this and any other information the USG has on Bank Markazi. Visit London's Classified Website: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/london/index. cfm LeBaron