US, UK, Canada sanction Iran's banks, petro-chem

The US along with Britain and Canada have announced new financial and energy sanctions against Iran to halt its suspected nuclear weapons program.

US President Barack Obama has stated that as long as Iran continues a dangerous path with its nuclear program, Washington will continue to find ways to isolate and increase pressure on Tehran.

The financial and energy sanctions will target Iranian companies involved in nuclear procurement, the hardline Revolutionary Guard force and Iran's petrochemicals sector.

The sanctions were put in action at 15:00 GMT on Monday with all UK credit and financial institutions to cease all transactions with banks, including the Central Bank of Iran. Britain's Treasury chief George Osborne has said that this is the first time the British government has cut an entire country's banking sector off from the UK's financial sector, using powers created by the Counter-Terrorism Act of 2008.     More