Treasury Department tells US banks to flag suspected Iranian money-laundering networks
Yahoo • • business
Key Points:
- The U.S. Treasury Department is urging banks and financial institutions to monitor for Iranian money laundering networks that facilitate smuggling of sanctioned oil via shell companies and cryptocurrency networks.
- This initiative aims to disrupt Iran's sanctions-evasion infrastructure amid a worsening ceasefire and stalled negotiations between the U.S. and Iran.
- Banks are advised to flag suspicious activities such as unusually large transactions by new companies, complex payment routing, connections to Iranian crypto firms, and oil shipments disguised as "Malaysian blend" or involving falsified documentation.
- Treasury reports indicate Iranian-linked oil firms conducted about $4 billion in transactions in 2024, with shipping companies in Iraq, UAE, and Hong Kong processing $707 million through U.S. accounts.
- The Trump administration is intensifying economic pressure on Iran through sanctions and threats of secondary sanctions on countries facilitating Iranian illicit activities, including a recent warning to financial institutions in China, Hong Kong, UAE, and Oman.