Dresdner Bank has decided to wind up its remaining business in Iran, a spokesman for the German bank said.

'We are winding down our business in, with and to Iran,' the spokesman said, adding that the administrative costs of doing business in Iran had become too high.

Dresdner, part of German insurer Allianz, has been scaling back its activity in Iran for months.

The UN Security Council has imposed sanctions on Iran for refusing to suspend a nuclear programme. The US has also led a crackdown on Iranian trade in dollars, euros and other currencies to put pressure on the country's leaders.

The Financial Times Deutschland newspaper reported in a story released ahead of publication on Wednesday that Dresdner's credit lines for business in Iran had been reduced to tens of millions of euros from more than 100 million euros ($134.7 million) in 2006.

Deutsche Bank AG, Germany's biggest bank, said last month it was closing its retail customer business in Iran.

The country's second-biggest bank, Commerzbank AG, suspended its US dollar-clearing business in Iran earlier this year. Reuters