HSBC, one of the largest banking and financial services institutions in the world, on Friday criticized the US government for encouraging non-US financial institutions to start working with Iran, Forbes reported. 

“Washington is pushing non-US banks to do what it is still illegal for American banks to do. This is a very odd position for the US government to be taking,” wrote Stuart Levey, chief legal officer of HSBC in an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal. “HSBC has no intention of doing any new business involving Iran,” added Levey, who is also a former undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence at the US Treasury Department.

This follows a meeting between UK’s top bankers and US Secretary of State John Kerry in London on Thursday in which he tried to persuade the banks that doing business with Iran would not lead to reprisals from the US.

“We want to make it clear that legitimate business, which is clear under the definition of the agreement, is available to banks. As long as they do their normal due diligence and know who they’re dealing with, they’re not going to be held to some undefined and inappropriate standard,” said Kerry after the meeting.

Even though a series of economic sanctions were lifted against Iran in January, the US still maintains a prohibition on Iran to access the American financial system or to directly conduct transactions in US dollars, fueling confusion and practical impediments given that international transactions routinely cross through the US banking system.

European and Asian governments and companies, primarily banks, have sought written clarification about what current US laws and financial regulations allow.

Essentially, they want a promise that the US will not prosecute or punish them for transactions involving Iran — a step that experts say the US has so far been reluctant to take.