U.S. Treasury Designation Targets Iran's WMD Financing, Alliance With Venezuela
By Andrew Cochran
This morning, the U.S. Treasury is announcing a new designation of the Export Development Bank of Iran (EDBI) for providing or attempting to provide financial services to Iran’s Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics (MODAFL). The Iranian regime is allegedly using the EDBI as a financing mechanism as a substitute for Bank Sepah, whose international financing capabilities have been sharply curbed since the Treasury designated it in January 2007 and persuaded our allies to join in that freeze. Contributing Experts Jonathan Winer, Matthew Levitt, Victor Comras, Michael Jacobson and I have written extensively on the series of international sanctions against Sepah and other elements of the Iranian financing system. The Treasury statement alleges that "EDBI has facilitated the ongoing procurement activities of various front companies associated with MODAFL-subordinate entities." The Treasury designated MODAFL and associated entities in October 2007 for activities to promote Iran’s ballistic missile program.
The designation not only includes two EDBI subsidiaries in Iran, but Banco Internacional de Desarollo, C.A., a financial institution located in Venezuela, adding to the U.S. government's program of sanctions and warnings against the Iran-Venezuela alliance. On March 20, Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network publicly listed that institution on a list of financial institutions through which Iran "disguises its proliferation and terrorism activities through an array of deceptive practices specifically designed to evade detection." On May 30, Douglas Farah posted about that bank as an example of joint banking ventures between Venezuela and Iran designed to evade the sanctions and finance terrorists in Latin America. Doug also posted about Hezbollah's growing ties in Venezuela, and the Treasury designated several Hezbollah-linked entities operating in Venezuela on June 18.
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