88m3
Fast Money & Foreign Objects
UK settled 400 million in debt with Iran
UK Govt Says Has Settled Outstanding £400 Mn Debt With Iran
UK Govt Says Has Settled Outstanding £400 Mn Debt With Iran
Official War With Iran Thread
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Clandestine Finance System Helped Iran Withstand Sanctions Crush, Documents Show - WSJ
Clandestine Finance System Helped Iran Withstand Sanctions Crush, Documents Show
System set up outside Iran’s borders conducted tens of billions in banned trade, according to documents, intelligence officials
Ian TalleyMarch 18, 2022 9:22 am ET
WASHINGTON—Iran established a clandestine banking and finance system to handle tens of billions of dollars in annual trade banned under U.S.-led sanctions, enabling Tehran to endure the economic siege and giving it leverage in multilateral nuclear talks, according to Western diplomats, intelligence officials and documents.
The system, which comprises accounts in foreign commercial banks, proxy companies registered outside the country, firms that coordinate the banned trade, and a transaction clearinghouse within Iran, has helped Tehran resist the Biden administration’s pressure to rejoin the 2015 nuclear deal, buying it time to advance its nuclear program even while negotiations were under way. Officials say they are closing in on a deal, with the release of two British women in recent days foreshadowing a potential agreement within days.
Years of sanctions have hobbled Iran’s economy and caused its currency, the rial, to collapse. But the ability to boost trade roughly to pre-sanction levels has helped the economy rebound after three years of contraction, alleviating domestic political pressure and bolstering Tehran’s negotiating position, say the officials and some analysts.
Iran’s success at circumventing trade and finance bans, apparent in trade data and confirmed by Western diplomats and intelligence officials, shows the limits of global financial sanctions at a time when the U.S. and European Union have sought to use their economic might to punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.The U.S. and EU have barred major Russian banks from trading dollars and euros and frozen the Russian central bank’s assets held overseas. As a result, the ruble has lost 13% of its value against the dollar since the Feb. 24 invasion. At the same time, the Biden administration has sought Russia’s cooperation in rounds of talks in Vienna aimed at reviving the deal.
According to the documents and Western officials, the clandestine banking system works like this: Iranian banks that serve companies barred by U.S. sanctions from exporting or importing engage affiliate firms in Iran to manage sanctioned trade on their behalf. Those firms establish companies outside of Iran’s borders to serve as proxies for the Iranian traders. The proxies trade with foreign purchasers of Iranian oil and other commodities, or sellers of goods for import into Iran, in dollars, euros or other foreign currencies, through accounts set up in foreign banks.
Some of the revenue is smuggled into Iran by couriers who carry cash withdrawn from the proxy company accounts abroad, according to some of the officials. But much of it remains in bank accounts abroad, according to the Western officials. The Iranian importers and exporters trade foreign currency among themselves, on ledgers maintained in Iran, according to the Iranian central bank.
Iran is expected to quickly increase efforts to pump more oil in the event a deal is concluded. National Iranian Oil Company’s tank farm near Khoy, Iran, pictured in 2011.
Photo: Morteza Nikoubazl/Reuters
Iran is expected to quickly increase efforts to pump more oil in the event a deal is concluded, to bring in much-needed revenue and offset supply constraints caused by the Russia sanctions campaign. Iran’s clandestine financial infrastructure is inefficient, costly and susceptible to corruption, Western and Iranian officials have said. But even if a deal allows Iran to formally reconnect trade and finance ties with the global economy, industry figures say Western banks and businesses are unlikely to re-engage with Iran quickly, wary of running afoul of future sanctions and money-laundering and terrorism-finance laws.
The Western officials say the clandestine system has worked well enough that Iranian authorities aim to make it a permanent part of the economy, not only to shield Iran from future possible sanctions campaigns but also to enable it to conduct trade without scrutiny from abroad.
“This is an unprecedented governmental money-laundering operation,” one of the Western officials said of the clandestine system.
Write to Ian Talley at ian.talley@wsj.com
Clandestine Finance System Helped Iran Withstand Sanctions Crush, Documents Show
System set up outside Iran’s borders conducted tens of billions in banned trade, according to documents, intelligence officials
Ian TalleyMarch 18, 2022 9:22 am ET
WASHINGTON—Iran established a clandestine banking and finance system to handle tens of billions of dollars in annual trade banned under U.S.-led sanctions, enabling Tehran to endure the economic siege and giving it leverage in multilateral nuclear talks, according to Western diplomats, intelligence officials and documents.
The system, which comprises accounts in foreign commercial banks, proxy companies registered outside the country, firms that coordinate the banned trade, and a transaction clearinghouse within Iran, has helped Tehran resist the Biden administration’s pressure to rejoin the 2015 nuclear deal, buying it time to advance its nuclear program even while negotiations were under way. Officials say they are closing in on a deal, with the release of two British women in recent days foreshadowing a potential agreement within days.
Years of sanctions have hobbled Iran’s economy and caused its currency, the rial, to collapse. But the ability to boost trade roughly to pre-sanction levels has helped the economy rebound after three years of contraction, alleviating domestic political pressure and bolstering Tehran’s negotiating position, say the officials and some analysts.
Iran’s success at circumventing trade and finance bans, apparent in trade data and confirmed by Western diplomats and intelligence officials, shows the limits of global financial sanctions at a time when the U.S. and European Union have sought to use their economic might to punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.The U.S. and EU have barred major Russian banks from trading dollars and euros and frozen the Russian central bank’s assets held overseas. As a result, the ruble has lost 13% of its value against the dollar since the Feb. 24 invasion. At the same time, the Biden administration has sought Russia’s cooperation in rounds of talks in Vienna aimed at reviving the deal.
According to the documents and Western officials, the clandestine banking system works like this: Iranian banks that serve companies barred by U.S. sanctions from exporting or importing engage affiliate firms in Iran to manage sanctioned trade on their behalf. Those firms establish companies outside of Iran’s borders to serve as proxies for the Iranian traders. The proxies trade with foreign purchasers of Iranian oil and other commodities, or sellers of goods for import into Iran, in dollars, euros or other foreign currencies, through accounts set up in foreign banks.
Some of the revenue is smuggled into Iran by couriers who carry cash withdrawn from the proxy company accounts abroad, according to some of the officials. But much of it remains in bank accounts abroad, according to the Western officials. The Iranian importers and exporters trade foreign currency among themselves, on ledgers maintained in Iran, according to the Iranian central bank.
Iran is expected to quickly increase efforts to pump more oil in the event a deal is concluded. National Iranian Oil Company’s tank farm near Khoy, Iran, pictured in 2011.
Photo: Morteza Nikoubazl/Reuters
Iran is expected to quickly increase efforts to pump more oil in the event a deal is concluded, to bring in much-needed revenue and offset supply constraints caused by the Russia sanctions campaign. Iran’s clandestine financial infrastructure is inefficient, costly and susceptible to corruption, Western and Iranian officials have said. But even if a deal allows Iran to formally reconnect trade and finance ties with the global economy, industry figures say Western banks and businesses are unlikely to re-engage with Iran quickly, wary of running afoul of future sanctions and money-laundering and terrorism-finance laws.
The Western officials say the clandestine system has worked well enough that Iranian authorities aim to make it a permanent part of the economy, not only to shield Iran from future possible sanctions campaigns but also to enable it to conduct trade without scrutiny from abroad.
“This is an unprecedented governmental money-laundering operation,” one of the Western officials said of the clandestine system.
Write to Ian Talley at ian.talley@wsj.com
negotiations heating up
we're gonna learn one day that Pence was telling the truth about Iran and 9/11
Domingo Halliburton
Handmade in USA
Oh..
Are you going to act like you hve some inside knowledge on this?
Are you going to act like you hve some inside knowledge on this?
Domingo Halliburton
Handmade in USA
Stfu u clown
Domingo Halliburton
Handmade in USA
Stop.
You talk to yourself in these threads.
You talk to yourself in these threads.
88m3
Fast Money & Foreign Objects
In Iran, a New Wave of Repression Hits Acclaimed Filmmakers
The authorities in the Islamic Republic like to take credit for the country’s achievements in film, but are warning those who make them not to cross red lines at home.
horrible
88m3
Fast Money & Foreign Objects
A Senior Member of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Is Killed in Tehran (Published 2022)
No one claimed responsibility for the assassination of Col. Sayad Khodayee, which took place in broad daylight outside his home.
In August 2020 Al Qaeda’s second-in-command, Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah, was shot and killed in Tehran by Israeli operatives on a motorcycle.
Israeli Air Force simulates widescale strike on Iran nuclear facilities
Military says dozens of fighter jets conduct 'long-range flight, aerial refueling and striking distant targets' maneuvers over Mediterranean
www.timesofisrael.com
Israeli Air Force simulates widescale strike on Iran nuclear facilities
Military says dozens of fighter jets conduct ‘long-range flight, aerial refueling and striking distant targets’ maneuvers over Mediterranean
By Emanuel Fabian 1 June 2022, 10:41 am
Dozens of Israeli Air Force fighter jets conducted air maneuvers over the Mediterranean Sea on Tuesday night, simulating striking Iranian nuclear facilities.
According to a statement by the Israel Defense Forces on Wednesday, the drill included “long-range flight, aerial refueling and striking distant targets.”
According to Channel 13 news, more than 100 aircraft — as well as navy submarines — participated in the drill that spanned some 10,000 kilometers.
The jets were refueled twice during the simulation, as they circled Cyprus and conducted mock airstrikes in Israel, the report said. Meanwhile, the elite helicopter search-and-rescue Unit 669 was on standby to assist pilots who may have needed to abandon their planes.
Earlier this month, The Times of Israel learned that the drill — as part of the military’s major Chariots of Fire exercise — would simulate a widescale strike in Iran, including against its nuclear facilities.
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Chariots of Fire, which involves nearly all branches of the IDF, has been focusing on training for fighting on Israel’s northern borders, including against the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group in Lebanon.
In light of growing uncertainty regarding a return by Iran to the 2015 nuclear deal amid long-stalled negotiations with world powers, the past year has seen the Israel Defense Forces ramp up its efforts to prepare a credible military threat against Tehran’s nuclear facilities.
At the beginning of last year, IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kohavi announced that he had instructed the military to begin drawing up fresh attack plans against Iran. By September, Kohavi said the army had “greatly accelerated” preparations for action against Tehran’s nuclear program.
Still, defense officials estimate that while some aspects of the IAF’s strike plans, which are still in their early stages, could be ready within a short period of time, others would take more than a year to become fully actionable.
File: Iran’s nuclear enrichment facility in Natanz, Iran (AP Photo/Hasan Sarbakhshian)
In addition to having to find ways to strike Iranian facilities that are buried deep underground, requiring specialized munitions and tactics, the IAF will have to deal with increasingly sophisticated Iranian air defenses in order to conduct such a strike. The air force will also have to prepare for an expected retaliation against Israel by Iran and its allies throughout the region.
The drill has also focused on preparing for and responding to such retaliation.
According to Channel 13 news, the US Air Force was supposed to serve as a complementary force with refueling planes during the drill. The IDF did not confirm the report, and the US Central Command denied it, saying “there is no direct US military involvement in that exercise.” A Pentagon spokesperson also denied the Department of Defense was “directly participating” in the drills, according to The War Zone online magazine.
On Tuesday, Defense Minister Benny Gantz visited another part of the Chariots of Fire drill taking place in Cyprus, which aims to simulate fighting against Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Troops during a major exercise in Cyprus, May 31, 2022. (Israel Defense Forces)
“The IDF is constantly preparing for operations and various campaigns, in various theaters, and will inflict a severe blow on anyone who seeks to threaten the citizens of the State of Israel,” Gantz said.
Among other things, the drills in Cyprus were simulating evacuating wounded troops by helicopter and dropping logistics equipment with heavy transport squadrons, according to the IDF.
The IDF said the exercises would be carried out in various terrains, including urban and rural areas in mountainous terrain that resemble Lebanon.
The Chariots of Fire drill — scheduled to last through June 3 — is the military’s largest exercise in decades.
Military officials said it is aimed at raising the competence and readiness of troops and top brass for war on multiple fronts, as well as coordination with other emergency organizations, local authorities, and government ministries.
88m3
Fast Money & Foreign Objects
Man with assault rifle arrested outside Brooklyn home of Iranian dissident journalist: Reports
Police arrested a 23-year-old Yonkers resident who was “behaving suspiciously” outside an unidentified residence over a period of days, according to a complaint.
gothamist.com
Iran trying to commit another act of terror in my city
