Treasury's Operation Economic Outcast Sanctions Iran's Shadow Banking Networks; FinCEN Warns on Religious Charity Channels
Washington — The Treasury Department announced on October 15 a new round of sanctions under Operation Economic Outcast targeting Iran's international financial networks and shadow banking architecture, while its Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued an advisory warning financial institutions about the Iranian regime's abuse of religious charity networks to move funds.
Acting under Executive Order 13902, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated a set of actors providing offshore banking, shell company and foreign-exchange channels for Iran, including Iraq's International Development Bank for Investment and Finance, which Treasury said provided Iran with access to U.S. dollars; two Iranian offshore banks, Jazireh International Bank Company and Chabahar International Bank Overseas Company; oil intermediary Sayyed Ruhollah Razavi and his companies; and multiple foreign-exchange operators and exchange houses. Treasury said the networks moved hundreds of millions of dollars through locations across the Middle East and Asia, including Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates and Türkiye.
FinCEN's advisory said Iran may abuse religious donations such as khums and other charitable channels, moving funds through informal methods including hawala and cash couriers, and listed red flags such as charities receiving large donations from unknown sources and quickly transferring them abroad, or charities that provide no charitable services, urging institutions to report suspicious activity.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the department will use financial institutions' reporting to help law enforcement cut off funding channels for the Iranian regime and its facilitators. Under the sanctions, designees' U.S. assets are blocked and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from dealing with them; foreign financial institutions that conduct significant transactions with them risk secondary sanctions. The same day, the State Department sanctioned Cuba's state-owned BICSA bank for servicing an Iranian bank, as reported earlier by GSM.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于华盛顿特区的美国财政部大楼（资料图）。图片来源：Wikimedia Commons，Rchuon24 摄，CC BY-SA 3.0 授权 / Photo: The U.S. Treasury Building in Washington, D.C. (file photo). Source: Wikimedia Commons, by Rchuon24, CC BY-SA 3.0.
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- 2026-10-16Treasury's Operation Economic Outcast Sanctions Iran's Shadow Banking Networks; FinCEN Warns on Religious Charity ChannelsThis story
