The U.S. Treasury Department announced sanctions on Friday against more than 30 people tied to three Iranian brothers, who run “a sprawling network of front companies” that have laundered billions of dollars via the regime’s “shadow banking” network.
“The regime leverages this network to evade sanctions and move money from its oil and petrochemical sales, which help the regime fund its nuclear and missile programs and support its terrorist proxies,” the department stated.
“Iran’s shadow banking system is a critical lifeline for the regime through which it accesses the proceeds from its oil sales, moves money and funds its destabilizing activities,” stated Scott Bessent, the U.S. treasury secretary.
Bessent added that the department “will continue to leverage all available tools to target the critical nodes in this network and disrupt its operations, which enrich the regime’s elite and encourage corruption at the expense of the people of Iran.”
The Iranian shadow network, which the Treasury Department said is made up of “numerous” elements—like the brothers Mansour, Nasser and Fazlolah Zarringhalam—helps sanctioned people and organizations tied to the Iranian regime access the international financial system.
It also enables “international exports, the proceeds of which fund Iran’s military and its terrorist proxies,” per the department.
“The system operates as a parallel banking system, in which settlements are brokered through Iran-based exchange houses that use front companies outside of Iran, primarily located in Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates, to make or receive payments on behalf of sanctioned persons in Iran,” the department said.
“To justify payments for sanctioned goods, shadow banking brokers may generate fictitious invoices or transaction details,” it said. “Front companies are created in jurisdictions with lower levels of regulatory supervision so that they can avoid scrutiny of their business practices or ownership.”
The Iranian people suffer from the shadow banking system, per the department. “Iranian whistleblowers have highlighted instances of Iranian government agents embezzling billions of dollars and other acts of corruption through this banking network,” it stated.