Billions in cash by rail: Telegraph reveals secret Russian money route to Iran
Vladimir Putin (photo: Getty Images)
Russia secretly sent billions of dollars in cash to Iran to support the Iranian regime. Tons of banknotes were transported by trains and ships, The Telegraph reports.
According to the newspaper, Russia's state-owned Promsvyazbank delivered cash shipments totaling about $2.5 billion over four months.
Nearly five tons of banknotes were sent in 34 consignments after Donald Trump imposed new sanctions on Tehran during his first presidential term.
According to the obtained documents, each shipment worth between $57 million and $115 million was sent from Promsvyazbank in Moscow to the Central Bank of Iran in Tehran.
In this way, Moscow and Tehran bypassed sanctions and traditional financial channels, indicating deeper cooperation between the two countries than previously believed.
The first shipment was made on August 13, 2018, one week after the United States signed the sanctions order. It consisted of 110 kilograms of cash worth $57.3 million.
According to The Telegraph, the cargo may have been transported by rail to Astrakhan, then by sea across the Caspian Sea to the Iranian port of Amirabad, and then again by rail to Tehran.
Trade records provided by the ImportGenius service confirm that tons of cash were delivered directly to the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic. Both financial institutions were asked for comment.
At that time, the Central Bank of Iran was headed by Abdolnaser Hemmati, who led the institution during the period of intensified sanctions.
According to former US deputy special envoy for Iran Richard Nephew, such transfers may have been intended to stabilize the Iranian economy.
Experts do not rule out that similar schemes may still be operating, particularly amid Iran's supply of Shahed drones and ballistic missiles to Russia for the war against Ukraine.
According to the publication, Hemmati was reappointed as head of Iran's Central Bank on December 31 last year, after his predecessor resigned amid nationwide protests. This increased the likelihood that similar cash transfers between Russia and Iran could be repeated.
"Yes, speculatively, I mean these new protests are unprecedented, and Russia would see the collapse of the current regime as a serious loss," the expert said. She also warned that such payments could continue this year.
