US intensifies pressure on Iran, sanctioning central banker

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States intensified its financial pressure on Iran Tuesday, slapping anti-terror sanctions on the head of its central bank and barring anyone around the world from doing business with him. That dealt a further blow to European hopes of salvaging the Iranian nuclear deal in the wake of President Donald Trump's withdrawal.

Valiollah Seif, the governor of the Iranian central bank, was named a "specially designated global terrorist" along with another senior official, Ali Tarzali, who works in the central bank's international division. The Treasury Department accused the men of secretly funneling millions of dollars through an Iraqi bank to help Hezbollah, the militant network that the U.S.