Reported by Iran International

(Excerpt shared below. To read full report, go to: https://www.iranintl.com/en/202512161745)

Iran’s central bank said on Tuesday it had blocked bank the accounts of over 250 people suspected of money laundering a sum amounting to $1.6 billion, as the country attempts to consolidate its financial system amid harsh sanctions.

Central bank spokesperson Mohammad Shirijian said the individuals, using around 6,000 bank accounts, recorded a combined turnover of about 2,100 trillion rials ($1.6 billion).

Shirijian said about 130 trillion rials, or around $100 million, of the total was linked to the bank accounts of a 24-year-old whom he accused of involvement in “disrupting the foreign exchange market.”

He added that the cases of 13 people suspected of “disrupting the banking system and the foreign exchange market” had been referred to the judiciary.

Separately, Revolutionary Guards-affiliated Tasnim News Agency, citing the central bank’s public relations director Mostafa Ghamari Vafa, reported that authorities had identified and blocked the accounts of three individuals, aged 24, 28 and 33, whose transactions totaled about 262 trillion rials ($201 million).

Tasnim said authorities had identified the trail of currency traders linked to the accounts and that the case remains under close surveillance.