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U.S. Treasury Sanctions Iranian Shadow Banking Network Laundering Billions for Regime’s Nuclear and Terrorist Agenda
6/6/2025
By
ERBIL -
In a sweeping action aimed at disrupting the financial lifelines of the Iranian regime, the and entities involved in a vast shadow banking network that has laundered billions of dollars for Tehran’s oil, petrochemical, and weapons programs. The announcement marks the first sanctions package targeting Iran’s clandestine banking infrastructure under the current administration’s enhanced pressure strategy.
According to the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the network—centered around Iranian nationals Mansour, Nasser, and Fazlolah Zarringhalam—used a system of front companies in the United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong to move illicit oil revenues and fund operations linked to Iran’s missile and nuclear development, as well as support for regional terrorist proxies.
"Iran’s shadow banking system is a critical lifeline for the regime through which it accesses the proceeds from its oil sales, moves money, and funds its destabilizing activities," said Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent in a statement. "Treasury will continue to leverage all available tools to target the critical nodes in this network and disrupt its operations, which enrich the regime’s elite and encourage corruption at the expense of the people of Iran." (AND THE PEOPLE OF IRAQ -F26)
A Corrupt Parallel System Undermining Global Sanctions
The shadow banking architecture allows sanctioned Iranian military entities and regime officials to access the international financial system by masking transactions through Iranian exchange houses and offshore shell companies. OFAC emphasized that the system operates as a "parallel banking system" designed to evade regulatory oversight and exploit weak jurisdictions to facilitate the flow of illicit funds.
Whistleblowers inside Iran have reported massive embezzlement and widespread corruption tied to this financial structure, underscoring the regime’s use of these mechanisms to enrich elites while the broader population suffers economic hardship.
The Zarringhalam Family at the Core of Illicit Financing
The Zarringhalam brothers orchestrated this vast laundering operation, enabling sanctioned actors to receive payments from the sale of petroleum and other commodities. OFAC has also sanctioned their family’s holdings, including Zarrin Tehran Investment Company and Kimia Sadr Pasargad Company—both active in Iran’s oil, gas, and construction sectors.
Among those designated are Mitra Zarringhalam, CEO of Zarrin Tehran Investment Company; Parvis Soltanizadeh, a board member at Kimia Sadr Pasargad; Hossein Shetaban and Farahnaz Meshkat, senior figures in the Berelian and GCM Exchanges; and Pouria Zarringhalam, a construction executive. Their affiliations demonstrate the regime’s ability to infiltrate and exploit diverse sectors of the Iranian economy through family-run enterprises.
Sanctions Enforcement and Legal Implications
The action is taken under Executive Orders 13902 and 13846, which authorize targeting Iran’s financial, petroleum, and petrochemical sectors. As a result, all U.S.-linked property and interests belonging to the sanctioned individuals and entities are now blocked, and American persons are prohibited from engaging in any transactions with them.
Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has also issued an updated advisory to help financial institutions detect suspicious activity linked to Iranian oil smuggling and weapons procurement operations. The advisory outlines typologies and red flags to mitigate risk exposure for banks and firms operating globally.
OFAC reiterated that violations of these sanctions—whether by U.S. or foreign entities—may result in civil or criminal penalties. The department also clarified that its sanctions are ultimately intended to pressure behavioral change, not merely to punish.
This sanctions package is the latest demonstration of Washington’s intent to dismantle Iran’s economic scaffolding that underpins its destabilizing regional agenda. It comes as the administration accelerates a maximum pressure campaign designed to curb Tehran’s ambitions and support for proxy forces amid rising regional tensions.
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Treasury Sanctions Iranian Network Laundering Billions for Regime Through Shadow Banking Scheme
SNIPPET:
Updated FinCEN Advisory Highlights Iranian Oil Smuggling, Shadow Banking, and Weapons Procurement Typologies
WASHINGTON — Today, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is designating over 30 individuals and entities tied to Iranian brothers Mansour, Nasser, and Fazlolah Zarringhalam, who have collectively laundered billions of dollars through the international financial system via Iranian exchange houses and foreign front companies under their control as part of Iran’s “shadow banking” network. The regime leverages this network to evade sanctions and move money from its oil and petrochemical sales, which help the regime fund its nuclear and missile programs and support its terrorist proxies. Concurrently, Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network to assist financial institutions in identifying, preventing, and reporting suspicious activity connected with Iranian illicit financial activity, including oil smuggling, shadow banking, and weapons procurement.
SNIPPET:
UAE FRONT COMPANIES
OFAC is also designating five UAE-based front companies that are either owned by, or operate in support of, the Zarringhalam network. Wide Vision General Trading L.L.C and J.S Serenity FZE have been used by Mansour and GCM Exchange for coordinating shadow banking transactions. In 2023, J.S Serenity Trading FZE was used by Mansour to coordinate a brokerage agreement with U.S.-designated , a front company for Iran’s Armed Forces General Staff and its oil sales activities.
Moderate General Trading L.L.C, Ace Petrochem FZE, and Golden Pen General Trading L.L.C have each been used by Nasser and Berelian Exchange as front companies to help sanctioned Iranian entities engage in international financial transactions. For over a decade, Nasser has used Moderate General Trading L.L.C to conduct financial transactions worth millions of dollars on behalf of NIOC and NITC. In 2022, both Ace Petrochem FZE and Moderate General Trading L.L.C were listed in correspondence from Berelian Exchange confirming payments with NITC. Ace Petrochem FZE has also been used by PGPICC as a third-party account in payments to obscure the destination of funds and evade sanctions.