Iran's Foreign Minister Araqchi: Tehran is ready to pursue diplomacy if the US changes its excessive demands, threatening rhetoric

Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is designating three Iranian foreign currency exchange houses and their associated front companies as part of Economic Fury and Treasury’s ongoing efforts to disrupt the Iranian regime’s financial lifelines that sustain its war effort. Collectively, Iranian exchange houses facilitate billions of dollars in foreign currency transactions each year. Because Iran primarily settles its oil sales in Chinese yuan, these exchange houses play a critical role in converting oil revenues into currencies that are more readily useable by the Iranian military and its partners and proxies. “Iran is the head of the snake for global terrorism, and under President Trump’s leadership, Treasury is moving aggressively, through Economic Fury, to sever the Iranian military’s financial lifelines,” said Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent. “We will relentlessly target the regime’s ability to generate, move, and repatriate funds, and pursue anyone enabling Tehran’s attempts to evade sanctions.” Today’s action is being taken pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13902, which targets persons operating in Iran’s financial sector. These designations build on OFAC’s previous actions targeting Iran’s shadow banking mechanisms, including exchange houses, Iranian bank rahbar companies, and digital asset exchanges used to evade sanctions. Today’s designations further disrupt the Iranian regime’s mechanisms for receiving payments for oil and other commodities, thereby increasing costs and reducing revenue for the regime’s destabilizing activities, and exposing individuals and the methods the Iran is the head of the snake for global terrorism, and under @POTUS ’ leadership, Treasury is moving aggressively, through Economic Fury, to sever the Iranian military’s financial lifelines. We will relentlessly target the regime’s ability to generate, move, and repatriate funds,…

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