Washington Post: Discovery of Future Bank's Actions in Bahrain to Evade Iran Sanctions

The Washington Post reported based on Bahraini government documents that inspectors in the country have uncovered actions by a bank in the Persian Gulf that had been helping Iran evade international sanctions for over a decade. This report, published on Tuesday, April 2, states that Future Bank, now closed and owned by two Iranians, regularly altered its economic documents to create a cover for illegal trade between Iran and dozens of foreign partners. According to the documents, this bank conducted at least seven billion dollars in banking transactions in this manner between 2004 and 2015, while Iranian banks at that time were deprived of access to international financial markets due to sanctions. The Washington Post further reports, based on confidential judicial documents it obtained, that inspectors also discovered hundreds of bank accounts linked to individuals with a history of convictions for money laundering, financing terrorism, and providing loans to companies that are actually connected to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. Bahraini officials have likened this bank to a 'Trojan horse' that operated on the territory of this small country, enabling Iran to engage in trade worth billions of dollars and thereby neutralizing international sanctions aimed at limiting Iran's nuclear program. About two months ago, Bahrain filed a case in an international court in the Netherlands, accusing Future Bank officials of extensive illegal trade with its foreign partners, stating that this is just the tip of the iceberg of the bank's activities, as many traces of these financial transactions have been lost. The Washington Post writes that neither Future Bank nor the Iranian delegation at the United Nations has responded to the newspaper's inquiries. Future Bank, established in 2004 following a joint investment between Ahli United Bank of Bahrain and Bank Melli and Bank Saderat of Iran, had previously been accused of helping Iran evade sanctions, which led the U.S. and the European Union to place this bank on their blacklist.