Sept. 16 (UPI) -- The U.S. Treasury announced Tuesday that it's sanctioning two Iranian financial facilitators and more than a dozen Hong Kong- and United Arab Emirates-based people and entities for "shadow banking" in support of Iran.
The Treasury Department alleged that these people helped coordinate funds transfers, including from the sale of Iranian oil, that benefited the IRGC-Qods Force and Iran's Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics, a press release said.
"Iranian entities rely on shadow banking networks to evade sanctions and move millions through the international financial system," Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence John K. Hurley said in a statement. "Under President [Donald] Trump's leadership, we will continue to disrupt these key financial streams that fund Iran's weapons programs and malign activities in the Middle East and beyond."
The department said that between 2023 and this year, Iranian nationals Alireza Derakhshan and Arash Estaki Alivand worked to facilitate the purchase of over $100 million worth of cryptocurrency for oil sales for the Iranian government. Derakhshan and Alivand used a network of front companies in foreign jurisdictions to transfer the cryptocurrency funds, the release said.
