Criticism continues to mount regarding the scope and likely effects of financial relief granted to Iran as part of the recently announced Geneva interim agreement, with concerns being raised not just about the value of unfrozen assets but more broadly about how the so-called Joint Plan of Action (JPA) is likely to impact the international sanctions regime. Emanuele Ottolenghi and Saeed Ghasseminejad – respectively a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and a Ph.D. candidate in finance at City University of New York – Tuesday published an assessment outlining how the JPA’s banking provisions are likely “to undermine the existing sanctions’ architecture.” International restrictions had substantially circumscribed Iran’s access to financial markets, both cutting off resources that Tehran was using to advance its nuclear program and preventing the Islamic republic from shoring up its economy. The JPA unfreezes a banking channel that Iran is supposed to use to facilitate the purchase of humanitarian assistance, and Western diplomats have expressed confidence that the relaxation will only benefit undesignated entities. The assurances have been met with skepticism by financial analysts.
Close scrutiny of the banking sector at the Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE) clearly shows that Iranian banking institutions are hardly private, independent or able to withstand regime manipulation. Of the 10 banks listed on the TSE, three are controlled by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — Karafarin Bank, Parsian Bank and Sina Bank. Most Karafarin shareholders are companies belonging to the Supreme Leader’s financial empire…
They worry that Iranian entities including the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps will be able to siphon significant funds from the transactions. Meanwhile Turkish outlet Zaman yesterday revealed that Iranian-Azeri businessman Reza Zerrab has been swept up in an anti-corruption probe, and that he “is accused of being involved in irregular money transactions, mostly from Iran, that total some 87 billion euros.”