Blacklisted by my bank for living in Iran

By Fredrik Dahl

TEHRAN (Reuters) - "Your account has been blocked because of your address ... It's not personal."

The bank employee in Brussels sounded almost apologetic when she told me my business was no longer wanted since I live in Iran, which is under tightening U.N. and U.S. sanctions over its disputed nuclear plans.

I argued with her over a scratchy phone line: "But I'm a European Union citizen." It was in vain.

The account I had opened with Banque Bruxelles Lambert (BBL) when I worked in the Belgian capital in the mid-1990s was frozen, and I must move my money elsewhere.

Iran was among countries on a "black list" the bank had, she told me: "It is impossible to work with your address."

Based in Tehran over the last year, this was the first time I was personally affected by financial and other sanctions on the world's fourth-largest oil producer.

With Western banks cutting ties with the Islamic Republic, it is becoming more and more difficult to transfer funds to the country of 70 million people.

Tehran's increasing financial isolation is forcing some to bring in money by hand in thick wads of $100 bills on the plane from Dubai, the Gulf's financial centre, or elsewhere.