Senior U.S. Treasury Official Visits Middle East to Counter Iran's Sanctions Evasion

The U.S. Treasury Department announced on Monday that a senior sanctions official traveled to Baghdad on Sunday. This visit comes as Washington seeks to counter the Islamic Republic of Iran's efforts to evade sanctions in Iraq and align Iraq's financial sector with international standards. A spokesperson for the U.S. Treasury stated that Brian Nelson, the Deputy Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, met with senior Iraqi officials, including Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani, on Sunday and Monday as part of ongoing efforts to 'combat illegal financing.' According to the spokesperson, Nelson discussed protecting Iraq's financial systems and the global financial system from criminal, corrupt, and terrorist actors with his Iraqi counterparts. The U.S. Treasury spokesperson also mentioned that Washington will continue to be a partner to Iraq in protecting its financial sector from the abuse by the Islamic Republic of Iran or other malign actors. On Monday, the U.S. also designated Al-Huda Bank in Iraq as 'a foreign financial institution with serious concerns regarding money laundering' and accused it of being a conduit for terrorism financing. Alongside this finding, the U.S. Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network proposed regulations that would sever this bank from the U.S. financial system and prohibit domestic financial institutions from opening or maintaining accounts on behalf of this bank. The U.S. also sanctioned the owner of this bank. The United States claims that the Islamic Republic of Iran and its proxies support Al-Huda Bank and divert its financial resources away from the economic needs of the Iraqi people to foment violence. Following his trip to Iraq, Nelson will travel to the United Arab Emirates, where the U.S. also has concerns about sanctions evasion. The U.S. and the U.K. sanctioned 11 individuals linked to the Islamic Republic for 'transnational repression.' One day after the warning from the European Troika, the Islamic Republic announced the launch of a satellite and two microsatellites. The U.S. and the U.K. also sanctioned four senior military officials of the Houthis and imposed new sanctions against Kata'ib Hezbollah in Iraq and Hamas, increasing pressure on the Quds Force of the IRGC.