The Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates today announced an inspection of branches in the country of the Egyptian public bank Misr, the target of US sanctions for its alleged participation in financial transactions with Iran.
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by
Lusa
” O Central Bank has decided to carry out a special and urgent analysis, which will include an in-depth assessment of the period mentioned in the press release” of the U.S. Treasury Department, the body indicated in a press release released by the official WAM news agency.
The charge of the United States (US) to the subsidiary of the Misr, the second largest bank in Egypt, in the United Arab Emirates is that it is a key financial axis for the Iranian regime, since according to Washington, between January 2024 and June 2026, it “processed approximately 1.8 billion dollars [about 1.5 billion euros to the current exchange] for 103 companies that are potentially part of parallel Iranian banking networks.”
In what was one of the most impactful measures following the US announcement of the hardening of sanctions against Iran, the US Treasury Department’s Financial Crime Control Network (FINCEN) (equivalent to the Ministry of Finance) proposed on Friday a standard that would revoke access by the United Arab Emirates branch to “bank correspondence relations with US financial institutions”.
In practice, the measure should prevent the subsidiary of Misr from using the dollar in its daily transactions.
The Central Bank of Egypt reacted immediately, ensuring that it was “in contact with the Americans regarding these measures”.
Misr bank today secured all cooperation with the US, after the threat of US sanctions against its branch in the United Arab Emirates for negotiating with Iran.
In a statement quoted by the Spanish agency EFE, the bank ensured “its full respect for the relevant regulatory and legal frameworks” and clarified that the announcement by the United States on Friday is a proposal that is not yet a “final standard”.
According to the bank, its branch in the Emirates continues to “provide banking services to its customers in accordance with the rules and procedures in force”.
It was the first concrete measure taken by the administration of the US President, Donald Trump, following the announcement by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to deprive the Islamic Republic of “all economic resources” in order to isolate the Tehran regime.
On Monday, Scott Bessent announced the details of the “Economic Outcast Operation” against Iran, with the aim of imposing sanctions on all those doing business with the Tehran regime.
Trump nicknamed this new economic offensive against Iran as “economic D-Day”.
The war between the United States and Iran ended on Friday six months without Washington being able to eliminate the Iranian nuclear programme or provoke a regime change in Tehran.
The conflict leaves, among other things, a global energy crisis, global impact on the cost of living, an even more unstable Middle East and an electorally relevant political dilemma for President Donald Trump, who disputes the control of the US Congress in the mid-term elections in November.
The “Operation Epic Fury” began on February 28, when the United States and Israel launched a large-scale air offensive against Iranian military, nuclear and leadership facilities, causing, among other deaths, that of the supreme leader, Ali Khamenei.
In reaction to the Israeli-American offensive, the Tehran regime responded with attacks in the region and the blockade of the Strait of Ormuz.