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The U.S. Treasury Department is pressing U.S. banks and other financial institutions to help identify suspected Iranian money laundering networks tied to sanctioned oil sales, adding new compliance expectations that target how illicit payments are routed through shell companies and crypto-related channels.
In a directive described by the Treasury Department, U.S. financial institutions are being told to monitor for customers and activity that may support Iran’s sanctions-evasion infrastructure, including efforts connected to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, the Associated Press reported. The guidance includes looking for patterns such as newly formed companies moving unusually large amounts of money, payments that pass through multiple intermediaries, and transactions connected to Iranian crypto firms.
Treasury’s request also ties bank monitoring to how sanctioned oil is moved and disguised. The directive calls attention to oil that may be labeled as “Malaysian blend” to mask its Iranian origin, as well as missing or falsified shipping documents and ship-to-ship transfers that can obscure where cargo was sourced.
The Trump administration is framing the push as part of a broader economic-focused strategy alongside military action. A Treasury Financial Crimes Enforcement Network report released Monday said oil firms linked to Iran conducted roughly $4 billion in transactions in 2024, while dozens of shipping companies based in Iraq, the United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong processed about $707 million through U.S. accounts during the same year, according to the AP account.
President Donald Trump also addressed the war’s diplomacy while the Treasury guidance was being released. He said the Iran ceasefire is on “life support” after he rejected Tehran’s latest proposal to end the fighting, the AP reported.
The Treasury approach comes as the U.S. and Iran remain at another impasse over how to end the war, with ceasefire conditions described as increasingly shaky. In April, Treasury sent letters to financial institutions in China, Hong Kong, the UAE and Oman threatening secondary sanctions for doing business with Iran, while accusing those countries of allowing Iranian illicit activity to flow through their financial systems.