Iran To Be Dropped From Swift System in Belgium

So many Iran threads I hate to start another but this comes from the business side of things and sounds quite severe.

Short of outright war (covert and economic obviously well underway) not sure what could be more serious?

Same story from two sources.

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Iran To Be Dropped From Swift System in Belgium

February 17, 2012, at 5:01 pm
by Jim Sinclair


My Dear Friends,

Iran is to be dropped out of the Swift system in Belgium. That means Iran could neither send or receive bank money wires.

That would slam Iran’s economy.

This is economic war at the highest level of conflict. This could start a greater move of central banks with fears of the West to increase and retrieve their gold positions. It certainly puts cash reserves held by central banks (which are computer entries anyway) into serious question as to security.

This is as serious as it gets in nuclear and economic terms. The only weapon that can be effective against Iran’s nuclear industry is Western nuclear deep penetration bunker busters.

Hold tight to your insurance investment positions.

Regards,
Jim


http://www.jsmineset.com/2012/02/17/...em-in-belgium/


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Banking's Swift Says Ready To Block Iran Transactions

February 18, 2012

SWIFT says awaits clarity regarding EU legislation; U.S. says will continue to pressure EU on SWIFT; SWIFT general counsel to meet US lawmakers next week

Reuters

Belgium-based SWIFT, which provides banks with a system for moving funds around the world, bowed to international pressure on Friday and said it was ready to block Iranian banks from using its network to transfer money.

Expelling Iranian banks from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication would shut down Tehran’s main avenue to doing business with the rest of the world – an outcome the West believes is crucial to curbing Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

SWIFT, which has never cut off a country before, has been closely following efforts in the United States and the European Union to develop new sanctions targeting Iran that would directly affect EU-based financial institutions.

The United States and EU have already moved to sanction Iran’s central bank.

“SWIFT stands ready to act and discontinue its services to sanctioned Iranian financial institutions as soon as it has clarity on EU legislation currently being drafted,” the company said in an emailed statement.

The United States has been pushing the European Union to force SWIFT to evict the Iranian firms but it was unclear whether the EU would reach an agreement.

For one, SWIFT’s home country, Belgium, does not think the global banking firm should be the only company of its kind required to comply with sanctions.

The Obama administration said it welcomed SWIFT’s intention to stop transactions involving designated Iranian banks. “We will continue to be in contact with our EU partners to urge action on this issue,” a U.S. Treasury official said.

SWIFT, with headquarters just outside the Belgian capital Brussels, is vital to international money flows, exchanging an average 18 million payment messages per day between banks and other financial institutions in 210 countries.

NUCLEAR STAND-OFF

The United States and Europe accuse Iran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons. Iran maintains its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.

The United States recently enacted sanctions that would punish countries and institutions if they do not reduce their purchases of Iranian oil by mid-year.

One of the lawmakers who has pushed for the sanctions said she was pleased SWIFT would move to cut Iran out of the global banking system, but said the United States needs to ensure it enforces all its sanctions laws.

“In addition, we must sanction Chinese energy companies that throw Iran an economic lifeline by continuing to do business as usual,” said Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the Republican chairman of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee.

The National Iranian American Council, an advocacy group, criticized efforts to expel Iranian firms from SWIFT.

“Kicking Iran out of SWIFT is both unprecedented and another dangerous step toward turning a financial war into a military conflict,” said Reza Marashi, the council’s research director.

Nineteen banks and 25 affiliated institutions from Iran sent and received some 2 million messages in 2010. They included banks the U.S. accuses of financing Iran’s nuclear program or terrorism – Mellat, Post, Saderat and Sepah.

SWIFT, founded in 1973, said its decision reflected the extraordinary circumstances of international support for the intensification of sanctions against Iran.

The company said it had informed its regulators, the world’s largest central banks, of its decision.

SWIFT’s general counsel is slated to visit Washington next week to meet with lawmakers who have proposed new sanctions targeting its services.

By Philip Blenkinsop and Rachelle Younglai


http://www.kippreport.com/2012/02/ba...n-transactions

And again we all are forced one step further down a road we don't want to go down.

Quote:

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Posted by Lettherebelight

And again we all are forced one step further down a road we don't want to go down.

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I too concur!!...

If there is a God!!... or if there is a benevolent force in the universe!!... that is all love and peace!!...

then we need that force now more than ever!!...

TM

More Euro trash talking after American pressure. A broke-ass America and its equally broke-ass EU counterparts are going to take away Irans' Ziomoney usage privileges. :hurt:These vampires must be suffering from drinking the blood of their dumbed down victims because they haven't a clue as to how the rest of the world, that isn't mostly Caucasian, is getting ready to do business without them. It is like parents threatening to take away your allowance when you have a better paying job than they do.

I found an from the same date as the first one here, the 17th, that discusses Iran. Here is the part about SWIFT.

Quote:

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This week the US is putting the screws on Belgian-based SWIFT. If you’ve ever wired money to another country, you have used SWIFT – it is essentially the messaging system between banks that alerts them to money transfers. The US wants to cut Iranian banks out of the SWIFT system, in effect making it practically impossible for anyone inside or outside Iran to send or receive funds.

Who knows what Iran will do if this comes to pass? It will probably just join non-aligned countries to create an alternative SWIFT, further undermining the western grip on global finance. Iran, after all, decided last year not to put up with the prospect of perpetual cyberwar with the west, and is forging ahead with plans to create a closed internet system for itself.

Each step the US and EU take to hinder Iran’s flexibility is countered with an innovative solution – one that includes more and more non-western players who are keen to craft a new global order. They used to worry about that kind of confrontation with the west, but the collapse of the current order has left few obstacles in their paths - and even offers incentives.

Like the proverbial finger in the dyke to block a leak…the water will always find another way out and possibly even bust open the dam. A warning to Washington: the burden of anxiety will always fall on the one who needs the dam most.

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Here is the full article:How Iran Changed The World
http://english.al-akhbar.com/blogs/s...-changed-world

And Iran has dropped the EU from their OIL delivery system..... you want oil you pay with GOLD or real commodities not the electronic SWIFT promissory codes...

Well if you ask me the Bankers have shot themselves in the foot on this one... how is Italy going to pay for its OIL ? its a laugh...

Iran cuts off oil supplies to Britain and France:

http://rt.com/news/iran-oil-cut-europe-687/

Hold onto your hats??!!