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Source: https://thehill.com/opinion/international/5876751-iran-hawala-networks-sanctions-evasion/
The Underground Financial System Keeping Iran Afloat amid War, Sanctions
(The Hill) Ahmad Sharawi - While the Trump administration is ramping up its economic warfare against the Islamic Republic of Iran, a parallel system continues to move cash beyond Washington's reach. For more than a decade, Iran has been cut off from much of the global banking system. Iran has adapted by relying on exchange houses, brokers and informal networks across the Middle East, mostly in Gulf Arab states. This centuries-old system is called "hawala." Billions of dollars in Iran-linked funds move through the Arab Gulf states each year. In Tehran's Ferdowsi exchange district, brokers don't hide what they do, openly advertising how easily money can be sent to and from Europe or the U.S. - all, of course, in violation of UN and U.S. sanctions. As long as these networks operate openly in the Gulf, Washington's economic wall around Iran will remain incomplete. The writer is a senior research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.