Remarks by Assistant Secretary Philip J. Crowley on Treasury Designations of Iranian Entities (Excerpts)

December 21, 2010

. . .

QUESTION: Can I - on Iran, the sanctions that Treasury announced this morning, could you talk us through what State's role was, if any, in helping to select these new targets? And more broadly, where do you think we stand in the sanctions - the U.S. unilateral sanctions process? I mean, are they going to keep on coming? Is this - are we zero - narrowing down on the ones that we really think are important? Are we expanding the scope?

MR. CROWLEY: Well, first of all, this is a process that is led by the Department of Treasury. We obviously have a role to play and cooperate fully in the work of Under Secretary Stuart Levey, Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence at the Department of Treasury.

All I would tell you is that this is part of the ongoing game of cat and mouse, if you will, between Iran and the international community. We have significant sanctions on Iran. They don't remain static. They try to do everything that they can to evade these sanctions. And as they take actions, we also take corresponding actions. So these are efforts today that are in reaction to steps that Iran has taken to try to circumvent the sanctions that we think are having an effect on Iran.

QUESTION: So it doesn't represent a broadening or a redefining of what the sanctions --

MR. CROWLEY: It's certainly not a redefining. We continue to look at what's happening in Iran and continue to sanction those entities that we think are controlled by the government and are directly related to their proliferation activities.

. . .