Banks in the United Arab Emirates have curtailed financial dealings with a handful of Iranian banks blacklisted by the U.S. Treasury, officials here said, drying up one of Iran's financial lifelines as international sanctions continue to aim at curbing Tehran's nuclear ambitions, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Washington has pushed many of Iran's Persian Gulf neighbors to end financial access to Tehran's banks. The U.A.E.'s move is especially significant since Dubai has in recent years been an important re-export hub for Iranian importers, prohibited by previous sanctions from importing goods directly from the U.S. and elsewhere.

Stuart Levey, the U.S. Treasury's point man on sanctions, traveled in late August to the U.A.E., Bahrain and Lebanon to meet with officials and explain Washington's new financial-sanctions law.

Levey said he found a "new seriousness" among Middle East banking institutions in cooperating with the international banking sector over Iran sanctions. "I have found a real and intense interest, especially [among] financial institutions" in the region, he said in a telephone interview during the trip.

Malaysia also recently suspended the local unit of Iran's second-largest bank, Bank Mellat, which the U.S. and the United Nations said was involved in facilitating "millions of dollars" in transactions aimed at advancing Iran's nuclear program. Kuala Lumpur followed Japan and South Korea in suspending or closing Bank Mellat operations.

Read more in the Wall Street Journal.