The U.S. Treasury Department announced on Wednesday that it was imposing new sanctions on Iran’s “shadow banking” network of companies that help sell Iranian oil and fund the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The department designated 22 entities in Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey that it said have funneled hundreds of millions of dollars to fund Iran’s nuclear program and foreign terrorism in violation of existing U.S. sanctions.
“The Iranian regime relies heavily on its shadow banking system to fund its destabilizing nuclear and ballistic-missile weapons programs, rather than for the benefit of the Iranian people,” said Scott Bessent, secretary of the U.S. Treasury. “Treasury remains focused on disrupting this shadowy infrastructure that allows Iran to threaten the United States and our allies in the region.”
One of the newly sanctioned companies, Turkey-based Pulcular Enerji, purchased hundreds of millions of dollars of Iranian oil shipments in coordination with a Hezbollah-controlled oil brokerage using cash transfers from Hong Kong-based front companies and cash couriers.
“Refineries purchasing Iranian oil transfer payments to these front companies, which then move the funds to other front company accounts also controlled by the IRGC’s Quds Force,” the department stated. “Iran uses these proceeds to fund its weapons programs and support its terrorist proxies and partners across the Middle East.”
