U.S. Treasury expands sanctions against Iranian proxy financial networks

The U.S. Department of the Treasury has expanded 'Operation Economic Outcast,' a massive sanctions campaign targeting the financial networks of the Iranian regime and its terrorist proxies. The operation aims to dismantle the funding mechanisms used by groups such as Kata’ib Hizballah (KH) and Lebanese Hizballah.

Recent actions have targeted multiple layers of Iranian illicit finance. This includes the severance of the UAE banking corridor, the designation of an Egyptian state bank, and the targeting of a Turkish bank involved in converting Iranian oil revenues into gold. Additionally, the Treasury has moved to ground all remaining Iranian airlines and designated procurement networks across five countries.

The sanctions specifically target three layers of financial infrastructure: the military procurement networks of Kata’ib Hizballah in Iraq, which reportedly siphon $2.6 billion in annual Iraqi government funding to the IRGC; the cash pipeline transferring hundreds of millions of dollars from the IRGC to Hizballah in Lebanon; and gold and hawala evasion networks used to smuggle assets through Dubai and Syria.