As Iranian officials prepare for a new round of negotiations with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), U.S. sanctions set to hit Tehran in February have the regime worried that billions of dollars long stuck in bank accounts outside the Islamic Republic could soon become cemented in place, The Christian Science Monitor reported Tuesday, January 15. The aim of the new sanctions, which go into effect Feb. 6, is for Tehran’s oil revenues to become largely “shackled” within any country buying oil from Iran, undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence David Cohen said last month. This means Iran’s international oil customers – even those with State Department waivers exempting them from U.S. Treasury penalties for purchasing Iranian oil – will officially be at risk of being cut off from the U.S. banking system if they allow transfers of Iran’s oil revenues back to Tehran’s Central Bank.