Iran And Terrorist Financing

From The Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs

Summary:

The Nexus Between Iranian National Banks and International Terrorist Financing

Shimon Shapira

* On December 19, 2007, a U.S.-based law firm succeeded in freezing the funds of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) in France on behalf of American clients who, in the judgment of U.S. courts, were victims of terrorist attacks sponsored by the Islamic Republic of Iran.

* Iran has been using its state institutions as agents of the terror activity it perpetrates throughout the world. The funding for this terror activity is partly provided via Bank Melli and sometimes also via Bank Saderat.

* Bank Melli also played a pivotal role in financing the 1994 AMIA bombing in Argentina. AMIA was the central Jewish community center in Buenos Aires; as a result of the Iranian-sponsored terrorist attack, eighty-five people were killed and more than two hundred were wounded. Iran's Central Bank also has had a role to play in terrorist financing. In September 2006, the U.S. Treasury disclosed that the Central Bank of Iran was sending money to Hizbullah through Bank Saderat, which was also providing financial services to Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas.

* It would be extremely unfortunate if French courts decide to unfreeze Iranian funds in Paris that were originally frozen because of U.S. court rulings about Iranian funding of terrorist attacks.

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