According to Phoenix Satellite TV, the U.S. Treasury recently proposed measures to restrict access to the UAE branch of the Egyptian state-owned bank to the U.S. financial system. The U.S. side said that the bank had processed about $1.8 billion in transactions for 103 companies that may be related to Iran‘s “shadow banking network”. The Egyptian central bank responded that the related measures only concerned UAE branch dollar operations and did not affect the bank‘s normal operations within Egypt and other Egyptian banks. The Egyptian side is communicating with the U.S. on this matter.
This action was not an isolated event. The United States had previously initiated a new round of economic pressure actions against Iran, and expanded the risk of second-order sanctions. The so-called “second-order sanctions,” to put it simply, meant that the United States not only limited its own economic dealings with Iran, but also used the dollar and the influence of the U.S. financial system to pressure third-party companies and financial institutions that continued to conduct related business with Iran.
Experts point out that the United States has already clearly released signals to continue expanding second-order sanctions. This means that on the surface, the target of the United States‘ measures this time is the UAE business of Egyptian banks, but from an overall policy perspective, it is still Iran that the United States really wants to further isolate, and third-party financial institutions that maintain financial and economic dealings with Iran are facing increasing pressure to choose sides.
Phoenix Satellite TV Zhang He Aya reports Cairo, Egypt