WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Federal authorities filed court papers Wednesday to seize a 36-story New York office tower financed and controlled by a state-owned Iranian bank designated by the U.S. government as a supporter of Iran's nuclear program.

The Justice and Treasury departments moved in tandem to freeze the property owned and controlled by the Iranian government-owned Bank Melli and its partner, Alavi Foundation, filing a civil complaint seeking forfeiture of the building.

Bank Melli was designated by the Treasury Department last year as supporting the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The department assigned a similar designation to the Assa Corporation on Wednesday, describing it as a front company for the bank and saying the corporation -- located on New York's Fifth Avenue -- is wholly controlled by Bank Melli.

By Terry Frieden