The landmark, court-documented scheme that moved billions in Iranian oil-and-gas money around US sanctions through Turkey.
How to read this
Every claim below is labelled by evidentiary strength.
Documented = primary document or multiple credible outlets.
Official sanction = a government designation exists — a designation, not a court conviction.
Estimated = a credible estimate (estimator named).
Alleged / contested = reported but disputed or unproven.
Documented
Iranian-Turkish gold trader Reza Zarrab ran a "gas-for-gold" scheme that moved roughly $13 billion of Iranian oil and gas proceeds around US sanctions via Turkey's Halkbank; he pleaded guilty in US federal court (SDNY) in 2017.
Sources:
US v. Zarrab / Atilla, SDNY (guilty plea Oct 2017) • Iran Watch / Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control • Associated Press
Estimated
Estimates of the scheme's total scale run as high as roughly $20 billion in Iranian proceeds laundered through Turkish banks in 2012–2013.
Sources:
US DOJ (Halkbank indictment, 2019) • Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control
Official sanction
The US Department of Justice charged Turkey's state-owned Halkbank in 2019 for its role in the multibillion-dollar Iranian sanctions-evasion scheme.
Sources:
US DOJ press release, "Turkish Bank Charged in Manhattan Federal Court…" (2019)
Editorial note. Artesh reports designations, estimates and allegations by their evidentiary strength and never presents a sanction as a conviction or an estimate as an audited figure. Corrections are made promptly; if you can add or correct a sourced fact, contact us.