How Billions in Iranian Money Passes Through U.S. Banks

The Wall Street Journal ^ | Sept. 5, 2026 9:00 pm ET | Rory Jones and Dylan Tokar

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Illicit Iranian funds are flowing through U.S.-dollar clearing accounts, creating an enforcement dilemma for Washington

As the Trump administration tightens its economic squeeze on Iran, it faces a surprising weak link in its campaign to cut off the regime from the global financial system: America’s own banks. 

Billions of dollars of Iranian funds are flowing through clearing accounts at American banks each year, Western officials and researchers say, despite sanctions that prohibit anyone subject to U.S. law from taking part in almost all financial activity linked to Tehran. 

Iran accesses the accounts through foreign partners that maintain relationships with U.S. banks, part of a more than century-old system called correspondent banking that helps tie the global financial system together, while also providing Tehran with plenty of ways to secretly infiltrate it.

The Trump administration has recently moved to put foreign banks that process dollar transactions with Iran via U.S. correspondent accounts on alert. Officials have also been pushing American banks to step up their vigilance on Iran-related transactions. 

But detecting them can be difficult, since Iran uses a complicated network of front companies and other means to disguise them.

On Aug. 28, the U.S. Treasury identified the Emirati branch of a state-owned Egyptian bank as one of the foreign institutions it believes are helping Iran access the U.S. banking system, and said it would move to cut it off. Banque Misr’s United Arab Emirates branch accessed U.S. correspondent accounts and routed as much as $1.8 billion for companies that were potentially part of Iranian shadow-banking networks, officials said.

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TOPICS: Foreign Affairs
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[ClearCase_guy]

We should choke off whatever we can choke off.

But Iran is under siege financially. They may be able to process some money through back channels as indicated by this article, but that flow isn’t larger enough to run a large country at war. It’s small potatoes, as some would say.

[HYPOCRACY]

The US government harasses its citizens overseas with FATCA but foreigners are free to not report holdings and access our banking system. W was more concerned about harassing US citizens than dealing with terrorists.

[catnipman]

make this activity a capital offense with an automatic death sentence, and catch, try and execute 2-3, and i bet that would put a damper on the activity ...

[Carry_Okie]

This pair of statements are absurd on first reading:

As the Trump administration tightens its economic squeeze on Iran, it faces a surprising weak link in its campaign to cut off the regime from the global financial system: America’s own banks.

Billions of dollars of Iranian funds are flowing through clearing accounts at American banks each year,

This statement implies a multi-year effort. The war and said squeeze only began this year.