Iran’s Terror-Tied Banks Operate Across Europe

Recent reports show that Iranian terror groups and proliferation agents are using banks in Europe to facilitate illicit transactions. New JINSA research reveals that a network of at least 15 branches of U.S.-sanctioned Iranian banks are operating across Europe, holding at least €1.9 billion in assets. Although the United States maintains full sanctions against Iran’s banking and financial sector, the European Union and United Kingdom lifted these sanctions in 2016 and continue to permit several Iranian state-linked banks to operate across their territory despite their support for Iranian terrorism and efforts to proliferate nuclear material and ballistic missiles. The United States should press Europe to shutter these terror banks, seize their funds, and re-sanction Iran’s financial and banking sectors. In the interim, the United States should sanction these banks’ European leadership to penalize their operations, recruiting, and finances.