Iran has received accusations that it’s trying to have banks set up secretly across Muslim countries such as Malaysia and Iraq for their alleged support in terrorism and Iran’s nuclear program, state US officials have claimed.

Iran allegedly set up the same banks in question through the adoption of dummy names as well as flimsy ownership and organizational structures to evade sanctions in a bid to curtail worldwide Islamic banking activities. A total of 16 banks have been accused by the Treasury Department for their involvement and has proceeded to blacklist them as other countries closely follow suit to implement their own actions.

Tehran is one of the countries in the process of seeking alternative banking ventures and avenues, which is a clear indication of just how effective the sanctions are.

A senior administrator, seeking anonymity, claimed Iran was looking to run banks in countries where the U.S would not be able to impede it from carrying out its operations. The success of setting up these banks however has been limited. An Iraqi official has come out, stating Iran has tried to setup commercial banks in Kurdistan region, located further north of Iraq without much success.

Tehran is known to have created about two Baghdad banks, where one of these has been Bank Melli affiliated, known to be one of the largest commercial banks in Iran. In 2008, Bank Melli was listed for engaging in nuclear activities by the U.N Security Council. In turn, the E.U acted by shutting down all of the said banks offices across Europe.

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