The United States, Britain and Canada each announced sanctions against Iran’s central and commercial banks Monday. The move is seen as an effort to cut Iran off from the international financial system in the wake of a recent United Nations report that details warnings about Iran’s nuclear activities. U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner described the reasoning behind the sanctions.

Timothy Geithner, U.S. Treasury Secretary: “If you are a financial institution anywhere in the world and you engage in any transaction involving Iran’s central bank or any other Iranian bank operating inside or outside Iran, then you are at risk of supporting Iran’s illicit activities, its support — its pursuit of nuclear weapons, its support for terrorism and its efforts to deceive responsible financial institutions, and to evade sanctions. Any and every financial transaction with Iran poses grave risk of supporting those activities. So financial institutions around the world should think hard about the risks of doing business with Iran.”

Additionally, the United States has levied sanctions against companies involved in Iran’s nuclear industry, as well as on its petrochemical and oil industries. On Tuesday Russia’s Foreign Ministry posted a statement slamming the move, writing that it “sees such extraterritorial measures as unacceptable and against international law.” The statement goes on to argue that the sanctions seriously obstruct constructive dialogue with Tehran.