14 Iraqi banks hit with curbs by US

BAGHDAD, July 30 (Reuters): Fourteen Iraqi private banks hit with curbs by the United States over allegedly helping siphon US dollars to Iran said on Wednesday they were ready to challenge the measures and face audits and called on Iraqi authorities to provide assistance.

US financial authorities last week barred 14 Iraqi banks from conducting dollar transactions as part of a wider crackdown on dollar smuggling to Iran via the Iraqi banking system, Iraqi central bank officials have said.

US State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said the measures were not sanctions, as they have been referred to by Iraq's Central Bank governor. Patel said the Treasury Department and Federal Reserve Bank of New York earlier this month removed the banks' access to the Central Bank of Iraq's foreign currency sale window, which he said are known as the dollar and wire auctions.