Two Iranian banks operating in London ‘should be closed’

The Government is facing crossparty demands to shut down the UK operations of two Iranian state-owned banks accused of funnelling cash to Tehran’s proxy militias and helping to fund the regime’s foreign policy.

Dame Margaret Hodge, a senior Labour MP who leads a parliamentary task force on corruption, said it was “utterly depressing” that the two financial institutions – Melli Bank and Bank Saderat – continued to run subsidiaries in London despite their history of being named in Western sanctions regimes.

Melli Bank has been cited in US sanctions for allegedly supporting the activities of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), while Bank Saderat has been targeted by Washington over claims that it has provided financial services for Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.

Both banks were found liable by a US federal court in 2021 for a Hamas terrorist attack in Israel in 2015 that left two people dead. A judge ruled that the finance houses were used by the Quds Force, an offshoot of the IRGC created to liaise with and fund Tehran’s proxy militias to pass funds to terror groups. Dame Margaret (inset) said: “It is utterly depressing that we are allowing banks in the UK to allegedly funnel cash to terror groups like the Islamic Revolutionary Guards, who have sent hundreds of missiles into Israel and who fund the activities of Hamas and Hezbollah. The group must be proscribed but, more importantly, any associated bank should be held to account.” Senior Tory backbenchers have also been calling for sanctions.