French bank Credit Agricole was accused by Washington of dealing with countries under US embargo and processing financial transactions for Sudan, Cuba and Iran through the United States. Several bank employees responsible for the transactions have already been fired, media reported. The bank agreed to pay $800 million in fines for the illegal financial transactions carried out in the period from 2003... 

US sanctions against North Korea is an attempt to create friction within the North Korean establishment but the move will not succeed, according to an analyst in Belgrade, Serbia. Joaquin Flores, geostrategist and director at Center for Syncretic Studies, made the remarks in a phone interview with Press TV on Sunday. The Obama administration imposed new sanctions on North Korea on Friday, two weeks... 

Western sanctions might push Russia to deepen cooperation with BRICS states, in particular, to strengthen its ties with China, which will possibly turn out to be a big catastrophe for the US and the EU some time later. On March 18, the spokesperson for the Kremlin, Dmitry Peskov, claimed in a BBC interview that Russia would switch to new partners in case of economic sanctions being imposed by the... 

The Chairman of the Thai-Iranian Business Council criticizes the US for leading a sanctions regime against Iran, saying it is harming ordinary financial enterprises in Thailand. Anirut Samutkochorn said not only would the Western sanctions against Tehran ultimately fail but they would also backfire, The Bangkok Post reported on Sunday. Anirut, who is involved in numerous businesses with Iran, demanded... 

Energy experts believe the new US sanctions on Iran could lead to a major hike in crude oil prices. South Korea has announced that it will buy around 10 percent of its needed crude from Iran in 2012, which will be slightly higher than last year. Seoul’s demand for more Iranian oil follows the approval of a new act by the US Senate for imposing tougher sanctions on Iran’s financial and energy...