CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY (Sam Faddis) - How the US ends up funding the Iranian Regime
Originally published by AND Magazine
We are at war with Iran. Meanwhile, we are supplying Iran with hard cash to keep it afloat. This is how it works. Ever since 2003, the U.S. Federal Reserve has been shipping pallets of cash to Iraq. Iraqi oil revenues are typically deposited into the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and in exchange, because Iraq’s economy is heavily cash-based, we send physical U.S. currency to the Central Bank of Iraq. We send a lot of cash, sometimes as much as $13 billion a year. Once in Iraq, a substantial portion of this money is diverted or smuggled into Iran, particularly through Iran-backed militias and informal networks. These pro-Iranian groups access the cash via auctions, banks, fake invoices, and prepaid debit card schemes. Once physical…Open