‘Shadow Banking Network’ Supporting Iranian Military Sanctioned by US Government

The US Treasury Department has sanctioned a “shadow banking network” accused of funneling money around the world to support Iran’s military.

The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned a pair of Iranian financial facilitators and more than a dozen individuals and entities based in Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The regulator accuses the sanctioned parties of coordinating fund transfers from the sale of Iranian oil and evading preexisting sanctions by laundering money through overseas shell companies and crypto.

OFAC also claims the Iranian military uses the funding to support regional terrorist proxy groups and develop advanced weapons systems.

The regulator says the Iranian nationals Alireza Derakhshan and Arash Estaki Alivand used a network of front companies to buy more than $100 million worth of crypto for oil sales for the Iranian government between 2023 and 2025.

OFAC notes that the property interests of sanctioned individuals and entities in the US must be blocked and reported.

“In addition, any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, individually or in the aggregate, 50 percent or more by one or more blocked persons are also blocked. Unless authorized by a general or specific license issued by OFAC, or exempt, OFAC’s regulations generally prohibit all transactions by US persons or within (or transiting) the United States that involve any property or interests in property of blocked persons.”

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