PUTIN MEETS WITH TOP AIDE OF IRAN SUPREME LEADER

MOSCOW— President Vladimir Putin and Ali Akbar Velayati, a top adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, discussed the situation in Syria and bilateral relations in a meeting in Moscow on Thursday, the Kremlin said.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Velayati had passed messages from Khamenei and from Iran’s president to Putin.

Fund channel busted

Peskov did not provide details but Velayati’s visit came as the United States and United Arab Emirates announced having broken up a network funneling illicit funds to Iran despite US sanctions.

“We jointly disrupted a currency exchange network that was transferring millions of dollars to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’ Quds Force,” said Sigal Mandelker, Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence at the US Treasury.

She said the network, dismantled in May, was used to transfer cash out of Iran and convert it into US dollars for Iranian proxy groups.

The network, directed by senior officials of Iran’s central bank, forged documents and disguised its dealings behind front and shell companies, Mandelker told reporters.

Forex exchanges

She did not give further details of the operation, but the UAE central bank announced earlier announced it had restricted the operations of seven currency exchange houses for unspecified violations of anti-money laundering and other regulations.

Iran has denounced the US campaign to hurt its economy as unjustified interference in its affairs.

The UAE central bank and the UAE government media office did not immediately respond to questions on whether the seven exchange houses sanctioned by the central bank were involved.

Mandelker was visiting the UAE after making similar trips to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to win support for the US sanctions on Iran.

She said governments and financial institutions were cooperating to stop Tehran’s malign influence in the region.—