Iran’s money laundering threatens international markets

Iran has been an active state sponsor of militant and jihadist groups around the world since shortly after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. According to US officials, to this day Iran invests hundreds of millions of dollars annually in proxy groups spreading violence and radicalism across the region.

Of all the methods employed by Tehran to support its vast illicit finance network, the most troubling is the unfettered use of Iran’s financial system for money laundering and creating commercial loopholes. Iran has quite a history of moving state funds and industry profits illicitly. Throughout the 2010s, as Iran’s economy was reeling from US and European sanctions, it turned to whatever methods it could to circumvent these restrictions.

More recently, a Wall Street Journal article exposed how Iran has been able to create a financial system in which it takes advantage of international banks in order to evade the might of the sanctions imposed by the US.