Banking on the Dollar: How Iran Keeps $9 Billion Flowing Through US Banks Despite Sanctions

The United States is trying to push Iran out of the global financial system, yet billions of dollars linked to Tehran still move through American banks each year. A Wall Street Journal investigation found that about $9 billion in Iranian funds passed through US banks in 2024, according to figures identified by the US Treasury.

The money can reach American lenders indirectly. Foreign financial institutions with correspondent-banking relationships in the United States can serve as intermediaries. Front companies and currency exchanges can also conceal the Iranian connection before dollar transactions arrive at US banks for settlement.

The finding comes as President Donald Trump’s administration intensifies financial pressure on Tehran through “Operation Economic Outcast.” The campaign warns companies and countries against doing business with Iran and threatens to cut violators off from the US financial system.

Iran has spent years building alternative channels. The US blockade has pushed the country’s oil exports, its main source of revenue, close to zero, but millions of barrels remain stored on tankers, particularly in waters near Malaysia. China is Iran’s biggest oil customer, taking more than 80 percent of its exports. Kpler data cited by the Wall Street Journal show that China imported more than 500,000 barrels of Iranian oil a day in August.

Ship-to-ship transfers in international waters make the crude’s origin harder to trace. Sanctioned tankers can unload oil onto other vessels, which carry it to China, where it may be recorded as coming from elsewhere. Vortexa estimates that about 80 million barrels of Iranian crude are currently in floating storage in Asian waters, potentially representing billions of dollars in revenue for Tehran.

Iran is also relying more heavily on the Chinese yuan in trade with China. The currency lets Tehran bypass parts of the US-controlled financial system, and it can be used to buy Chinese goods and services or exchange oil for Chinese infrastructure projects inside Iran. Cryptocurrency provides another route. Researchers cited by the Wall Street Journal said Iran has used billions of dollars in crypto for trade and to acquire weapons and commodities. The supplied article ends while describing the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ use of crypto exchanges.

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Operation Economic Outcast