US issues advisory on illicit Tehran activity
WASHINGTON, Oct 13, (Agencies): The US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued an advisory on Thursday to help financial institutions detect and report potentially illicit transactions related to Iran.
“This advisory lays out in great detail the extent to which the Iranian regime uses deceptive practices, including front companies, fraudulent documents, exchange houses, seemingly legitimate businesses and government officials, to generate illicit revenues and finance their malign activities,” said Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Sigal Mandelker in a Treasury statement.
“Iran’s deceptive practices have been orchestrated not only by elements of their government such as the IRGC-Qods Force, but also by Central Bank of Iran officials who were at the highest levels,” she said.
“Governments, financial institutions of all types around the world, and other companies need to be on high alert to the types of schemes described in this advisory,” said Mandelker.
Iran masked illicit transaction using senior officials of the CBI who procured hard currency and conducted transactions for the benefit of Iran’s Qods force and Hizballah, the statement noted.
“Financial institutions are advised to exercise appropriate due diligence when dealing with transactions involving exchange houses that may have exposure to the Iranian regime and/or designated Iranian persons, and the advisory details examples of exchange houserelated schemes,” it said.
CBI officials’ routing transactions to personal accounts instead of government-owned accounts with no
central bank affiliated individuals withdrawing funds “may be a red flag for financial institutions to investigate,” it said.
Other examples of “red flags” were included in the complete advisory.
One of Iran’s top foreign policy officials has called for negotiations with “anti-Trump movements” in the US to dampen the impact of sanctions, local media reported Saturday.
“America is not Trump,” said Heshmatollah Falahat-Pisheh, a conservative lawmaker who heads parliament’s influential national security and foreign policy commission, according to reformist newspaper Arman.
“There is a new diplomatic atmothe sphere for deescalation with America and it is fitting that Iran follows negotiation diplomacy and lobbying anti-Trump movements in America,” he added.
He said this would help alleviate pressure caused by Washington’s “extensive sanction-focused force”.
The US pulled out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal in May and reimposed punishing sanctions on the country, hoping to pressure Tehran into what President Donald Trump calls a “better deal”.
The US is due to complete the reimposition of sanctions on Nov 5, targeting Iran’s oil sector and central bank.
Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has dismissed Trump’s offers to talk as “a dangerous game”.
But Mehdi Motaharnia, a Tehranbased political analyst, described Falahat-Pisheh’s proposal as “very meaningful” since it signifies a potential shift in conservatives’ stance on talking with the US.
“This comes from a conservative whose party members called (Foreign Minister Mohammad) Javad Zarif a traitor for negotiating with the US,” Motaharnia told reformist daily Hamdeli.
“But now we do not see such reactions when the head of national security and foreign policy commission proposes talks,” he added.