Today’s online edition of the Wall Street Journal published an interview with Ali Divandari, the Chairman of Iran’s Bank Mellat. That Bank was added to the SDN list in 2007 and since then all U.S. persons that come into possession of any property in which Mellat has an interest must block that property.

The ostensible purpose of the interview was to discuss recent developments in the privatization of Bank Mellat. The Iranian government owns 35% of the bank, but it is selling an additional 15% of its interest in the bank starting at the end of March. The government’s remaining 20% is expected to be sold in 2011.

Divandari said Bank Mellat’s new charter says the government no longer has any control over the bank. Referring to U.S. sanctions, he said that he expects the bank to “have fewer problems” following its partial privatization.

To say that this is, at best, wishful thinking on Divandari’s part is charitable. Bank Mellat wasn’t sanctioned because of the Iranian government’s stake in the bank; instead Bank Mellat was sanctioned because of its participation in Iran’s nuclear proliferation activities, which the Office of Foreign Assets Control described as follows in 2007 when it put the bank on the SDN list:

Bank Mellat provides banking services in support of Iran’s nuclear entities, namely the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) and Novin Energy Company. Both AEOI and Novin Energy have been designated by the United States under E.O. 13382 and by the UN Security Council under UNSCRs 1737 and 1747. Bank Mellat services and maintains AEOI accounts, mainly through AEOI’s financial conduit, Novin Energy. Bank Mellat has facilitated the movement of millions of dollars for Iran’s nuclear program since at least 2003. Transfers from Bank Mellat to Iranian nuclear-related companies have occurred as recently as this year.

Changing the ownership structure of the bank won’t have any impact on this fundamental problem for the bank, so I don’t think that Divandari and his staff should start thinking about U.S.-dollar transactions any time in the near future.

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