WASHINGTON, March 20: The Bush administration issued a fresh warning Thursday to US banks that Iran is using “an array of deceptive practices” to hide its alleged involvement in nuclear proliferation and terrorist activities.

The Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network alleged that Iran is resorting to such alleged practices to evade detection and skirt financial sanctions.

The agency said that the Iran’s central bank, also known as Bank Markazi, and Iranian commercial banks have requested that their names be removed from global financial transactions to make it difficult to “determine the true parties in the transaction.”

The United States’ warning to US banks comes after an international financial watchdog — the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force — pressed its 34 member countries to urge banks to monitor their dealings in Iran.

In Thursday’s warning, the US government told US banks that the Treasury Department is “particularly concerned that the central bank of Iran may be facilitating transactions for sanctioned Iranian banks.”

Under US financial sanctions, virtually all trade and investment activities with the government of Iran are prohibited.—AP