Senior U.S. Treasury officials will try to enlist support among the world's finance ministers and central bankers in Singapore in the coming days for the Bush Administration's efforts to crack down on what it says is Iran's support of terrorism, a U.S. government official said Wednesday.

Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Stuart Levey said the discussions to be held on the fringes of the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank will be private and aren't likely to be reflected in the statements to be released at the Singapore events. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is expected to raise the Iranian issue when he meets with his Group of Seven counterparts Saturday.

Iran has pumped $200 million into Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite militia that provoked the recent five-week conflict in southern Lebanon, Levey said.

Levey is on a swing through Europe for talks with government and financial sector officials and to explain last week's decision to cut off Bank Saderat, a leading Iranian bank, from direct and indirect access to the U.S. financial system.

The Treasury official will meet with officials in Switzerland before traveling on to Singapore. Noting that Swiss bank UBS AG (UBS) has cut its business ties to Iran, Levey said the fact that other banks haven't announced similar plans doesn't necessarily mean they aren't scaling back the business they do with Iran.

But he stressed that the Bush Administration isn't trying to twist anyone's arm. "We're not here to make any specific requests of anyone," he said. "There have been cutbacks by a number of European banks in their business with Iran, but this is their business decision," he said.

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