IRAN MONEY NET UNDER FIRE: US Treasury Mobilises Global Banks in Fresh Crackdown

• US Treasury has brought global financial institutions into a fresh intelligence-sharing push aimed at cutting Iranian-linked revenue and procurement networks out of the international financial system, putting correspondent banking channels at the centre of the crackdown.

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) convened financial institutions on September 16 as part of Operation Economic Outcast, providing banks with information on networks and facilitators that Treasury says help Iran and its proxies access US correspondent banking relationships.

According to Treasury, those channels can be used to move and launder funds, procure weapons and finance terrorist activity. The FinCEN Exchange brought financial institutions and government officials together to share intelligence, identify financial facilitators and discuss measures for protecting the US financial system.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the department was working with the private sector to disrupt what the administration describes as Iran’s remaining financial channels.

The compliance significance extends beyond US banks. Correspondent banking relationships can provide access to international payment infrastructure, making banks’ customer due diligence, sanctions screening, transaction monitoring and escalation controls critical points of defence.

FinCEN is urging financial institutions to review its Iran-related alerts, advisories and financial trend analyses, alongside sanctions administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).

The latest exchange builds on an April 2025 FinCEN public-private partnership focused on Iran and continues Treasury’s effort to use financial institutions as sources of actionable intelligence on illicit-finance networks.

For compliance teams, the message is direct: sanctions screening alone may not identify complex networks using intermediaries, correspondent accounts and procurement channels. Banks will increasingly need to connect transaction patterns with intelligence on facilitators, counterparties and higher-risk jurisdictions.