Pressure Building On Biden Admin Over Iran Issues
The State Department's internal watchdog has launched an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the suspension of US Iran envoy, Robert Malley.
The State Department's internal watchdog has launched an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the suspension of US Iran envoy, Robert Malley.
The Office of Inspector General (OIG), Diana Shaw, launched the investigation in addition to ongoing Federal Bureau of Investigation investigations into Biden’s Iran man, which could lead to a more formal investigation, according to a report by Politico.
Iran International first reported that Malley was suspended from his position as US envoy for Iran on June 29, with his security clearance suspended while he was under investigation relating to his handling of classified documents.
The Involvement of the FBI was also reported, although until now no official details have been announced, except that Malley is on “unpaid leave.”
The suspension had been kept under wraps since it took place on April 22, with Malley given a more limited scope of work before the affair unraveled two months later.
Shaw’s investigation was prompted by the Republicans on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who raised a host of questions about the State Department and called on her to act.
Confirming the action, which will run alongside the FBI investigation, Shaw wrote to the group: “OIG considers several factors when determining whether to initiate work, including statutory requirements, available resources, our jurisdictional authority, and the existence of criteria against which to measure the department’s actions.
“Considering these factors and the circumstances you detailed in your letter, we plan to begin a preliminary review.”
The Republican Study Committee echoed the calls claiming in a Tweet that Malley had his security clearance suspended for mishandling classified information and that he continued to work without an active clearance.
In a Tweet, the group wrote: “Biden is hoping we aren't paying attention. But we are. We must #InvestigateMalley NOW!”
Like many other Iranians in the US, journalist Karmel Melamed has supported further investigations. He wrote on Twitter: “This whole fiasco with Malley stinks to high hell … He and his mullah regime buddies operating here in America & collaborating together need to be prosecuted for treason against the United States. The lack of accountability for their crimes is shameful.”
In further revelations of Iran’s deepening US influence, Republicans in Congress have issued a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines warning about the influence of Iran's terror ideology in at least four US-based mosques and centers.
According to Fox News Digital, the three-page GOP letter details Iranian regime-linked mosques and centers in Maryland, Texas, Michigan and Virginia. It claims that the Islamic Education Center (IEC) in Potomac, Maryland, secured funding from what it says is the Iranian regime-controlled Alavi Foundation and Washington-based Iranian Iman, Abolfazi Bahram Nahidian.
The letter gives a damning rundown of the centers and their leaders’ links to the regime. “The Iranian regime's attempts to spread malign influence in the United States in multiple Shiite mosques and cultural centers across the country has been happening for years,” it says.
“These state-sponsored mosques preach hatred toward anyone who disagrees with the Iranian regime and go as far as to praise the ayatollah's repressive reign through songs and shrines. It is imperative that the US government understand and respond to the threat posed by state-sponsored terrorism wherever it appears, whether in the Middle East or at home.”
While Biden avoids affirmative action in Iran, even in the face of aggression in the likes of Syria and the Persian Gulf, meanwhile continuing to push for restarting the nuclear talks (JCPOA), the pressure is on, but the question remains, is Biden listening. Revelations of plots to attack US citizens on home soil continue, but the softly-softly approach of the Biden era is wearing thin for Congress.
Muhammad Nuri Aziz, a member of the Iraqi parliament, said on a television show Monday that Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani and the country’s central bank are aware of the schemes Iran uses to get hold of US dollars it desperately needs amid US sanctions. The lawmaker noted that the smuggling started during Mustafa Al-Kadhimi's term as prime minister and still continues.
Soran Omar, another member of Iraq’s parliament, told Iran International in an interview on Tuesday that at least 5,000 shell companies have been registered to facilitate the dollar smuggling network.
“It is true that in the cabinet of Mohammad Shia al-Sudani, there have been more efforts and preventive measures to curb dollar smuggling to Iran, showing better performance compared to previous governments. However, this does not mean a real halt," he said. “On the contrary, when one measure is adopted, another loophole for dollar smuggling is opened.”
Omar added that “unfortunately, most private banks in Iraq, which are backed by corrupt officials, are the main cause of dollar smuggling.” “It is quite clear that each of these banks are affiliated with which individuals,” he highlighted, suggesting that there is no resolve in the government to stop the smuggling.
He warned that considering the new US measures against Iraqi banks to stop the flow of money to Iran, new channels may open to keep the smuggling ongoing.
A source with the Iraqi government told Iran International that following the recent restrictions by the US, a portion of the smuggling is being carried out through shell companies, electronic travel cards, online shops, exchange offices, and even suitcases.
According to the source, some people have created hundreds of electronic cards with different names and used them to buy $20,000 to $30,000 from Iraqi banks. Then, they cash the money in another country and transfer it to Iran.
"Some people have managed to smuggle more than one million dollars singlehandedly," the informed source said.
Reports about the transfer of $165 million to Iran within less than a month by just one exchange office led authorities to discover dozens of similar cases by other exchange offices.
Jamal Coujar, another Iraqi lawmaker, told Iran International that if the administration of Shia al-Sudani and the Central Bank do not take serious measures to prevent money laundering, fresh rounds of US sanctions will hit Iraqi banks.
The credibility of the Iraqi banking system has been tarnished due to the Islamic Republic's influence, and US sanctions have tightened their grip on Baghdad because evidently all Iraqi banks have had interactions with the Islamic Republic.
The only commercial gateway for exports and imports with Iran is Iraq, whose financial dealings with the regime are not properly supervised, Coujar said, adding that “billions of dollars have been transferred to Iran,” but authorities have remained silent. “It has become evident that all Iraqi banks have had interactions with Iran, and this situation has only benefited Iran and harmed Iraq,” he noted.
Last week, 14 Iraqi private banks sanctioned by Washington over helping to siphon US dollars to Iran said they were ready to challenge the measures and face audits and called on Iraqi authorities to provide assistance.
The US barred the Iraqi banks from conducting dollar transactions as part of a wider crackdown on dollar smuggling to Iran. The latest sanctions, along with earlier ones, have left nearly a third of Iraq's 72 banks blacklisted, two Iraqi central bank officials said.
The dinar tailspin against the dollar has worsened since the New York Federal Reserve imposed tighter controls on international dollar transactions by commercial Iraqi banks in November to halt the illegal siphoning of dollars to Iran.
Under curbs that took effect in January, Iraqi banks were required to use an online platform to reveal their transaction details. But most private banks have not registered on the platform and resorted to informal black markets in Baghdad to buy dollars.
Iran International revealed in May that an aide to former IRGC’s Quds force commander Qassem Soleimani, is a key figure in money laundering for Tehran. Iran International also reported some details about the inner workings of a Quds force unit tasked with smuggling money from Iraq to Iran, proving that the Islamic Republic’s embassy in Iraq is also involved in money laundering operations aimed at funneling revenues from oil and gas exports back to Iran.
Mohammad-Hossein Malaek, who served as Tehran’s envoy for four years under former president Mohammad Khatami, told the Iranian Labour News Agency on Tuesday that China’s purchase of Iranian oil never stopped no matter the status of US and international sanctions on the Islamic Republic.
“China has a principled and consistent approach to its relations with Iran, and for about 10 to 15 years, both when Iran was under sanctions and when they were removed, China has been importing an average of 600,000 barrels of oil per day from Iran,” he said.
However, he explained that Beijing was supposed to open credit lines for Iran, but it never did due to the sanctions. Malaek did not elaborate if these “low-cost credits” were supposed to be earmarked for Chinese products or the regime would have been able to use them on international markets.
No matter how many buyers or how much trade Iran manages to secure for its exports, Iran faces serious obstacles in bringing in the revenues and money transfers due to banking sanctions, the former envoy highlighted.
His remarks came as head of the Iran-China friendship association Allaedin Boroujerdi said Monday, “Necessary agreements have been made between the central banks of the two countries, and we do not have the problem of blocking Iran's money and assets in China, like we have in South Korea.”
While China has a diversified oil supply portfolio that has seen Iran contributing over one million barrels per day in some periods, the lion’s share of China’s daily import of 10 million barrels are from Russia and Saudi Arabia.
He did not explain how exactly Iran is receiving money from China but there are several known methods that have been used in the past, including a barter system and China’s investment in Iran’s development projects. “There is an annual exchange of $15-16 billion worth of goods with the Chinese, some through banking channels and some through barter," Malaek said.
In 2020, Iran and China quietly drafted a sweeping economic and security partnership that would potentially clear the way for billions of dollars of Chinese investments in Iran’s energy and other sectors, undercutting the Donald Trump White House efforts to isolate the regime over its nuclear and military ambitions. Then-foreign-minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi signed the controversial 25-year deal at a ceremony at the Iranian Foreign Ministry in Tehran in March 2021. The deal was first proposed by Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei during President Xi Jinping’s visit to Tehran in 2016.
The pact has been controversial in Iran because its details have never been disclosed. According to a copy of the draft obtained by The New York Times, the 18-page agreement detailed $400 billion of Chinese investments in banking, telecommunications, ports, railways and dozens of other projects. In exchange, China would receive a regular and heavily discounted supply of Iranian oil for the following 25 years.
Although Iran has not revealed the details of the agreement with China and what it will entail in political, economic and military terms, it has caused resentment from Iranians who claim the Islamic Republic is "selling out the country and its people" to China and Russia.
While oil has been trading at around 75-82 dollars in the past several months, Iran International reported in December that Tehran provides huge discounts to China, charging as little as $37 per barrel. A report by The Wall Street Journal in July said Iran is exporting the highest amount of crude oil in five years, but it offers discounts of up to $30 per barrel.
Kpler, a data and analytics firm, said in its latest report last week that Iran’s oil shipments to China have more than tripled over the past three years despite the US sanctions. Based on the data, Iranian crude exports to its major trade partner have been hovering around one million barrels per day in 2023, up from roughly 325,000 bpd in 2020 and just 160,000 bpd in August 2019, in the wake of tightened US sanctions.
Also in January, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) put Iran’s average oil production in 2022 at 2.54 million bpd. According to energy consultant SVB International earlier this year, Iran’s crude exports in December averaged 1.137 million barrels per day, up 42,000 bpd from November and the highest 2022 figure SVB has reported based on earlier estimates.
Iran needs around $50 billion from oil exports to balance its flailing budget, but estimates say actual annual proceeds are around $25 billion. Another reason for Iran’s oil revenues being probably less than $25 billion is the costs involved in illicit shipments to evade sanctions, and losing money in trying to repatriate the money in hard currencies. Iran’s banking system is also under US sanctions and any oil revenues are laundered through intermediaries.
The main question that remains unanswered is how all these oil revenues are spent when inflation is still soaring, national currency is on a nosedive and Iranians are getting poorer every day with no prospect of bouncing back in sight.
On Sunday, the agency disclosed some information about the LinkedIn-based campaign to infect the victims’ computers with malicious software and gather information.
The Iranians created false profiles posing as real Israeli citizens with whom the targets may have had personal or professional interactions. Then, they initiated conversations on LinkedIn and continued correspondence through email, according to the agency.
During their correspondence, the impostors would send an invitation to a conference or other digital files of interest, such as a study or article. Clicking on these links would then infect the recipient's computer with a malicious file that would grant the Iranian entity comprehensive access to the compromised system, enabling remote takeover and complete exposure of the information contained within.
Israeli-based news channel i24NEWS cited Shin Bet as noting that he hackers originally compiled the necessary information for the LinkedIn profiles from social media networks, allowing them to establish a connection and then engage in correspondence tailored to the target's specific interests.
The campaign is just the latest in a series of similar operations by the regime’s cyber agents against Tehran’s archnemesis Israel. Iran-sponsored cyberspies have recently boosted their techniques, using fake personas of real people to add credibility to the phishing emails designed to deliver malware.
Mehdi Saremifar, a Canada-based sci-tech journalist, told Iran International on Sunday that the cyber-attacks by the Iranian regime’s hackers during the past several years indicate that several organizations or institutions in Iran are coordinating their efforts for such campaigns. He says the country’s intelligence ministry and the cyber army of the Revolutionary Guards are among the units involved in the regime’s warfare in cyberspace.
According to Saremifar, Iran’s attacks are mainly aimed at phishing and getting ransom as well as some for military intel, a case of which led to a drone attack against an oil tanker associated with an Israeli billionaire off the coast of Oman in November 2022.
According to a 2022 report by Security firm Proofpoint, Iran-aligned agents deployed a social engineering impersonation technique, informally called Multi-Persona Impersonation, in mid-2022 in which the threat actor uses at least two stolen or hijacked personas on a single email thread to convince targets of the legitimacy of the campaign. The personas used are real people that the target knows and trusts.
Last August, Meta, formerly the Facebook company, removed at least two Iranian cyberespionage groups that were targeting academics, activists, journalists and other victims. Also in 2022, Iranian hackers -- named Sharp Boys -- targeted several travel booking sites of an Israeli company and stolen personal information of more than 300,000 Israelis.
Earlier in the year, researchers at CheckPoint's Incident Response Team said an Iran-linked group calling itself Moneybird has deployed a ransomware against Israeli organizations.