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Clandestine Finance System Helped Iran Withstand Sanctions
(Wall Street Journal) Ian Talley - Iran established a clandestine banking and finance system to handle tens of billions of dollars in annual trade banned under U.S.-led sanctions, enabling Tehran to endure the economic siege and giving it leverage in multilateral nuclear talks, according to Western diplomats, intelligence officials and documents. The system involves Iranian proxy companies dealing with foreign banks in China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Turkey and the UAE. Iran's success at circumventing trade and finance bans shows the limits of global financial sanctions. "This is an unprecedented governmental money-laundering operation," said one Western official.