U.S. Sanctions Iranian Bank

Iran may close the Strait of Hormuz, and the U.S. isn’t taking that threat mildly. The country’s third-largest bank was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department Monday as officials charged Bank Tejarat with assisting Iranian agencies in attempts to obtain uranium. The bank may have also had a role in providing financial support to Iranian nuclear programs, Treasury officials alleged. The move, which cuts one of the few trade ties remaining between Iran and Western nations, follows a ban President Obama put in place last month to cease all commerce between America and Iran’s central bank.