cover image: IRAN’S CRIMINAL STATECRAFT - HOW TEHRAN WEAPONIZES ILLICIT MARKETS J. R. Mailey

IRAN’S CRIMINAL STATECRAFT - HOW TEHRAN WEAPONIZES ILLICIT MARKETS J. R. Mailey

29 Oct 2024

As a result, the Central Bank of companies’ link to Israel posed a national security Iran and dozens of commercial banks linked to the threat, the IRGC stormed the airport, blocked the run- regime have been designated under sanctions by the ways and took over operations by force on the foreign US Department of the Treasury. [...] ‘Their involvement in illicit business seems to have become prominent after the fall of the caliphate when the Iraqi state funding for the anti-ISIS military campaign was cut off, and the vacuum left after the fall of the caliphate provided opportunities for engaging in or expanding organized criminal activities,’ according to a June 2023 paper in the journal Crime, Law and Social Change. [...] While the Houthis have been in the crosshairs of numerous powerful governments in the region and beyond, the shipping attacks intensified international pressure, bringing the significant support the Houthis have received from Iran to the fore. [...] The document shows a series of side-by-side images that highlight the striking similarities between the designs and features of weapons systems used by the Houthis and the equivalent arms in Iran’s arsenal.76 The US government placed sanctions on the ‘so-called director of procurement’ for the Houthi forces’, Yemeni citizen Muhammad Ahmad al-Talibi. [...] ‘The GI-TOC’s investigation into the Al Bari 2 seizure revealed the first known instance of a transnational trafficking network based in Somalia involved in the transfer of arms from Iran to the Houthis,’ according to the report.78 In June 2021, the US Department of the Treasury placed sanctions on the Salim network (see the diagram on page 26), highlighting its continued role in weapons shipments.
Pages
59
Published in
Switzerland

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