The Trump administration is sanctioning two Iranian national financial facilitators, as well as more than a dozen other individuals and entities, that are part of Iran’s “shadow banking” network aimed at facilitating funding transfers to the Islamic regime and its proxies, the U.S. Treasury Department announced on Monday.
Using cryptocurrency, Iranian nationals Alireza Derakhshan and Arash Estaki Alivand coordinated the purchase of more than $100 million in Iranian oil. Shadow banking evades sanctions via money laundering through cryptocurrency schemes and fake overseas front companies, according to the department.
The money, which includes profits from the sale of Iranian oil, has been used to fund Iranian military operations and its terror proxies abroad, stated Treasury.
“Iranian entities rely on shadow banking networks to evade sanctions and move millions through the international financial system,” said John Hurley, under secretary of the treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence, adding that “we will continue to disrupt these key financial streams that fund Iran’s weapons programs and malign activities in the Middle East and beyond.”
