By Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Treasury Department said on Thursday that New York-based insurer MetLife's unit, American Life Insurance Co, agreed to settle its potential civil liability for over 2,300 apparent violations of sanctions against Iran.

The Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control announced a $178,421 settlement with the MetLife unit.

The apparent violations related to insurance policies provided to entities in the United Arab Emirates that were owned or controlled by the government of Iran, the Treasury Department added.

The settlement amount reflected OFAC's determination that the apparent violations were voluntarily self-disclosed and were not egregious, the department added.

Washington's sanctions on Iran ban nearly all U.S. trade with the country, block the Iranian government's assets in the United States and prohibit U.S. foreign assistance and arms sales, according to the Congressional Research Service. The U.S. and Iran have had tense relations for decades.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; editing by Jonathan Oatis)