Media Release Banking (Foreign Exchange) Regulations 1959
Sanctions against Iran – Amendment to the Annex

Number 2010-13
Date

The Reserve Bank of Australia, following a directive from the Australian Government under the Banking (Foreign Exchange) Regulations 1959, currently administers financial sanctions against several Iranian entities and persons who contribute to Iran's proliferation activities but are not already listed by the United Nations Security Council.

On 15 June 2010, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade announced that the Australian Government would impose further autonomous sanctions against Iran to reinforce UN Security Council Resolution 1929 of 9 June.

The Australian Government has reviewed the list of persons and entities subject to financial sanctions and has directed the Reserve Bank to add to the Annex of names. The new autonomous sanctions apply to one individual, General Rostam Qasemi, the commander of Khatem ol-Anbiya Construction Organisation, a company owned by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and two entities, Bank Mellat and the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Line. Attachment A provides details of these amendments. The updated Annex now contains 12 persons and 11 entities.

Any transactions involving the transfer of funds or payments to, by the order of, or on behalf of any person or entity listed in the Annex are prohibited without prior approval from the Reserve Bank.

UPDATE: On 7 March 2012, responsibility for the administration of Australia's autonomous financial sanctions was transferred from the RBA (under the Banking (Foreign Exchange) Regulations 1959) to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) (under the Autonomous Sanctions Regulations 2011).
This change was announced in RBA Media Release No 2012-05. As a result, the content of this media release is no longer current and any accompanying annexes and/or attachments have been removed. For all enquiries about Australia's autonomous financial sanctions regime, including the current list of sanctioned individuals and entities, refer to the DFAT website.

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