TEHRAN (AP) -- Iran described a U.S. ban on its Bank Saderat as politically motivated, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported Saturday.

"Barring Bank Saderat of Iran from dealing with U.S. financial institutions is politically motivated," the agency quoted Davud Danesh-Jafari, Iranian minister of Economic Affairs and Finance, as saying.

Iranian banks are barred from directly accessing U.S. financial institutions, but they are permitted to do so through banks based in other countries. On Sept. 8, the U.S. Treasury Department made a regulatory change to prevent Bank Saderat from using that indirect access.

Following the U.S. move, three top Japanese banks said they would halt their dealings with Bank Saderat. Jafari said the ban would fail because "the world is currently trying to facilitate and promote trade and deals between countries."

The Iranian minister accused the U.S. of trying to distract public attention from what he called the "victory by Hezbollah over Israel" in month-long fighting between the guerrilla group and the Jewish state in Lebanon.

Last week U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, attending meeting of Group of Seven finance chiefs in Singapore, said Iran was involved in financing terrorism and used front companies to obtain technology to support terror and procure weapons of mass destruction.

The U.S. Treasury said since 2001 a Hezbollah-controlled organization had received $50 million directly through Bank Saderat.

Iran has several times said its support of Hezbollah has been merely moral and spiritual.