The U.S. Treasury Department has announced that it has placed eight Canadian-based financial services companies on its sanctions list for allegedly facilitating financial transactions with sanctioned Iranian entities.
These sanctions effectively cut off the aforementioned companies' access to the US dollar-based financial system, freeze their possible assets in the US and prohibit any transactions they may have with US individuals and institutions.
Scott Bessant, the US Treasury Secretary, said: "Canada cannot be a safe haven for those facilitating illegal financial activities that provide services to the Iranian government and its proxies to circumvent sanctions."
He added that the US Treasury will identify and disrupt the Islamic Republic of Iran's financial channels anywhere in the world.
In a separate action, the U.S. Treasury Department also restricted a Seychelles-registered digital currency exchange's access to the U.S. financial system.
📷EPA-EF.