UANI Statement on SWIFT’s Decision to Discontinue Services to Iranian Institutions

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 17, 2012 Contact: Nathan Carleton, press@uani.com Phone: (212) 554-3296 UANI Statement on SWIFT's Decision to Discontinue Services to Iranian Institutions New York, NY - United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) President, Ambassador Mark D. Wallace, issued the following statement Friday following SWIFT's announcement that it plans to "discontinue its services to sanctioned Iranian financial institutions:" SWIFT appears to have made the right decision to end its relationships with sanctioned Iranian institutions. We continue to call on SWIFT to cut off all Iranian banks and entities from the SWIFT network, and quickly follow through on today's announcement. This action has the potential to significantly isolate the Iranian regime from the world's markets, and lessen the capital it has to pursue nuclear weapons and fund terrorism. Now is the time for the most robust sanctions in history, and more pressure on the regime than ever before. UANI launched its SWIFT campaign last month. UANI submitted a detailed legal explanation to SWIFT, international banking and regulatory officials, and U.S. lawmakers, showing how SWIFT is in violation of U.S. and EU sanctions--as well as its own bylaws--by affording Iranian banks BICs and access to the SWIFT system. UANI also sent its analysis to individual members of SWIFT's Board of Directors, stating that "SWIFT jeopardizes its good reputation if it continues its work with Iran's financial institutions." That week, members of the U.S. Senate drafted and introduced an amendment that would sanction SWIFT. SWIFT, after initially defending its work with Iran, subsequently pledged to "find the right multilateral legal framework which will enable SWIFT to address the issues." UANI has been in consultations this month with international banking regulatory officials, after calling on regulators to "take immediate action to ensure SWIFT's compliance with applicable U.S. and EU sanctions law and to ensure that SWIFT complies with its own rules related to corporate governance and membership eligibility." Click here to read UANI's original letter to SWIFT. ### United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) is a program of the American Coalition Against Nuclear Iran, Inc., a tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. The prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran should concern every American and be unacceptable to the community of nations. Since 1979 the Iranian regime, most recently under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's leadership, has demonstrated increasingly threatening behavior and rhetoric toward the US and the West. Iran continues to defy the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the United Nations in their attempts to monitor its nuclear activities. A number of Arab states have warned that Iran's development of nuclear weapons poses a threat to Middle East stability and could provoke a regional nuclear arms race. In short, the prospect of a nuclear armed Iran is a danger to world peace. United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) is a non-partisan, broad-based coalition that is united in a commitment to prevent Iran from fulfilling its ambition to become a regional super-power possessing nuclear weapons. UANI is an issue-based coalition in which each coalition member will have its own interests as well as the collective goal of advancing an Iran free of nuclear weapons. The Objectives of United Against a Nuclear Iran Inform the public about the nature of the Iranian regime, including its desire and intent to possess nuclear weapons, as well as Iran's role as a state sponsor of global terrorism, and a major violator of human rights at home and abroad; Heighten awareness nationally and internationally about the danger that a nuclear armed Iran poses to the region and the world; Mobilize public support, utilize media outreach, and persuade our elected leaders to voice a robust and united American opposition to a nuclear Iran; Lay the groundwork for effective US policies in coordination with European and other allies; Persuade the regime in Tehran to desist from its quest for nuclear weapons, while striving not to punish the Iranian people, and; Promote efforts that focus on vigorous national and international, social, economic, political and diplomatic measures. UANI is led by an advisory board of outstanding national figures representing all sectors of our country.

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