The sanctions on Iran’s Central Bank that President Obama signed into law on Dec. 31 theoretically allow for banning any financial institution from doing business in the US if it does business with the Central Bank of Iran.
In practice, the US is almost certainly going to be selective in its application. For instance, it’s inconceivable that Mr. Obama would seek to ban the Bank of China, a major buyer of US debt, because it also helped settle a Chinese oil purchase from Iran.
But the sanctions are going to reduce the number of commercial banks willing to deal with Iran, making it harder for the country to bring home oil receipts, which account for 80 percent of Iran’s exports.
