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.
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- EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 4
- Recommendations 5
- ILLICIT PROXIES EXISTENTIAL PRIORITIES 7
- Prevent and contain opposition and dissent 7
- Weaken adversaries avoid direct military confrontation 8
- Strengthen allies while retaining influence 8
- Regain access to money and markets 9
- Improve power projection and asymmetric warfare capabilities 10
- Outsourcing options 11
- Ideologically aligned armed proxies 12
- Iran-based criminal organizations 12
- Cybercriminals and hacktivists 12
- Transnational criminal organizations 13
- PERIPHERY PREDATION IRANS PARTNERS AND PROXIES IN THE MIDDLE EAST 15
- Hezbollah All the corridors they need 15
- Hiding behind the facade of a sovereign country Irans criminal proxy networks in Iraq 18
- Syria Desperate partner existential threat 24
- SYRIA 25
- Vessels for crime and terror Iran the Houthi movement and criminal networks in Yemen 27
- Opportunistic and adaptive Illicit economies that support Hamas 30
- THE HEROIN HIGHWAY IRANS CRIMINAL PROXIES ALONG SMUGGLING ROUTES INTO EUROPE 33
- Turkey A porous gateway to Europe 34
- Albania Irans Balkan battleground 37
- Azerbaijan Repression radicalization and realpolitik 38
- Georgia Tourism terrorism and transit 41
- DOES CRIME PAY ASSESSING THE DIVIDENDS OF IRANS STATECRIME NEXUS 43
- Prevent and contain opposition and dissent 43
- Weaken adversaries avoid direct military confrontation 44
- Strengthen allies while retaining influence 45
- Regain access to money and markets 46
- Strengthen military capabilities 47
- THREATS VULNERABILITIES AND OPTIONS 48
- Develop a framework for assessing vulnerabilities 49
