U.S. 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. U.S. State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said the measures were not sanctions, as they have been referred to by Iraq's Central Bank governor. Iraqi central bank (CBI) Governor Ali al-Allaq said on Wednesday the institution was following up on the issue and he had no indication the U.S. would impose "sanctions" on more Iraqi banks. The 14 banks have been banned from undertaking dollar transactions but can continue to use Iraqi dinars and other foreign currencies. The latest U.S. measures, along with previous curbs on eight banks, have left nearly a third of Iraq's 72 banks blacklisted, two Iraqi central bank officials said.

---

Persons: Vedant Patel, Patel, Ali al, Allaq, Haider al, Shamma, Ahmed Rasheed, Timour, Richard Chang, Daniel Wallis Organizations: . State Department, Iraq's Central Bank, Treasury Department, Federal Reserve Bank of New, Central Bank of, U.S . Treasury Department, New York Fed, CBI, U.S ., Thomson Locations: BAGHDAD, Iraqi, United States, Iran, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, U.S, Tehran, Iraq's, Baghdad