Israel's Netanyahu pestered SWIFT to stop services to Iran: Israel official
An Israeli official says the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) discontinued offering services to Iran upon the persisting demands by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
On March 15, SWIFT CEO Lazaro Campos said in a statement that the society has decided to discontinue offering services to Iranian banks which are subject to financial sanctions imposed by the European Union. This is while the Israeli official, whose name was not announced, indicated that, in meetings with US president Barack Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Netanyahu had demanded Iran’s expulsion from the SWIFT, the Ha’aretz reported. According to the unnamed Israeli official, Netanyahu told Obama that "we need SWIFT swiftly.” Following the SWIFT's announcement on Thursday, Netanyahu’s office “congratulated SWIFT for its decision” in a statement issued later on the same day.
Russia Today: SWIFT reaction: Iran 'will retaliate', closing Hormuz Strait - Tehran’s threats to block the Strait of Hormuz in response to sanctions are not mere words, warned Iran’s senior spokesman on sanctions. As long as the West ignores international law to promote its interests, Iran will retaliate, he said. Closing the strait would be a response equal to the West’s unlawful severing of Iran from global commerce, believes Iran’s senior spokesman on Western sanctions and former intelligence minister Ali Falahian. “I suggest that the West take seriously our threat to close the Strait of Hormuz,” he said on Sunday, as cited by the Israeli-based news website DEBKAfile.
AWIP: Iran Cut off From Global Financial System