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Iran rejected the charge in a letter to the Council on Friday, saying Iranian banks "have never been involved in any illicit activities including in non-peaceful nuclear activities-- simply because there are no such non-peaceful nuclear activities in Iran."

It called the allegation that the banks were being used to finance terrorist activities "baseless and absurd," saying it was "a malicious attempt to unjustifiably dissuade others from dealing with Iranian banks..."

"The attempt of the three countries to seek the restriction of the activities of the Iranian banks is intended not only to exert undue pressure on the Iranian government, but also to disrupt the banking and financial affairs of millions of deposit holders and customers of those banks," Iran's deputy ambassador Mehdi Danesh-Yazdi said in the letter.

Last week, the European Union tightened trade sanctions against Iran beyond the existing U.N. sanctions. France, which holds the rotating EU presidency, said European governments would also carefully watch financial groups doing business with Iranian banks.

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