Nov. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Japan Post Bank said it will suspend cash remittances to Iran because its intermediary bank stopped doing so as a result of U.S. financial sanctions on the country.

The service will end Nov. 22, the bank said in a press release posted on its Web site, without elaborating. Japan Post each year processed about 50 million yen ($453,350) worth of remittances to Iran, AFP reported, citing a Japan Post Bank spokesman.

The United Nations and the U.S. are trying to get Iran to halt uranium enrichment that the West suspects is aimed at developing nuclear weapons. Iran, which has the world's second- largest oil and natural gas reserves, says it wants the technology to generate electricity.

U.S. Treasury Department measures targeting Iran, similar to those used against North Korea, are having a significant effect in financially isolating the country, Stuart Levey, undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said yesterday in Tokyo.

Financial institutions around the world have cut ties with Iran, leading to ``a dramatic pullback in business,'' Levey said on a trip through East Asia to build support for the measures.

The Bush administration on Oct. 25 announced new sanctions against Iran that freeze any U.S. assets of the Iranian military and anyone who does business with it, putting pressure on foreign companies to cut economic ties with Iran.

Japan Post Bank was created last month as part of the government's privatization of the postal agency.

To contact the reporter on this story: Tak Kumakura in Tokyo at tkumakura@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 15, 2007 17:55 EST