According to a report by the Financial Times on Sunday, February 4, the Iranian regime has exploited two major British banks to carry out covert money operations worldwide as part of an extensive network to evade sanctions, supported by Iranian government intelligence agencies.
Based on documents obtained by Financial Times, Lloyd’s and Santander UK have allocated several cover accounts to British companies secretly owned by a sanctioned Iranian petrochemical trading company based in London.
The report further states that the mentioned petrochemical trading company is part of a network that the United States accuses of collecting hundreds of millions of dollars for the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and cooperating with Russian intelligence organizations to finance proxy paramilitary forces associated with the regime.
This covert money movement around the world has taken place while the petrochemical trading company and its British cover company, PCC UK, have been under US sanctions since November 2018.
The report reveals that the Iranian regime has abused the complex structures of Lloyd’s and Santander UK to evade sanctions and conceal ownership.
Revelations about the regime’s sanctions evasion operations in the heart of London came after the Royal Air Force of Britain joined the US airstrikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen, who are supported by the Iranian regime.
According to the UK Companies House, Pisco UK is wholly owned by a British citizen named Abdollah Siavash Fahimi. However, internal documents, some of which have been published online by a website, indicate that Pisco is fully controlled by the British cover company PCC UK, and Fahimi takes possession of it as a trustee under a contract.
Fahimi has used the email address of the petrochemical trading company to communicate with officials of the company in Tehran. According to British company files, he served as the manager of the British cover company PCC UK from April 2021 to February 2022.
Earlier, the British Foreign Secretary David Cameron mentioned in an interview with The Sunday Times that he had a frank conversation with the Foreign Minister of the Iranian regime and said they needed to send the clearest possible message to Iran that their activities through proxies are unacceptable.
Cameron said, “I’ve met with the Iranian foreign minister and had a very robust conversation where I said that these proxies are your proxies, you cannot disclaim your responsibility for them.
“Of course, you can claim they have a certain amount of independence, but you created them, you backed them, you financed them, you provided them with weapons, and you will ultimately be held accountable for what they do.”
