Iran used the British bank Lloyds and the branch of Spanish Santander in the United Kingdom to move funds and escape American sanctions, the economic newspaper Financial Times (FT) reported this Monday (5).

The two banks would have allowed the opening of accounts of shell companies based in the United Kingdom, which in fact belonged to a petrochemical company controlled by Iran, the target of American sanctions since 2018, according to the Financial Times, based on documents consulted by the newspaper.

This company is part of a “network that the United States accuses of raising millions of dollars for the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Army and of working for Russian intelligence agencies that raise money for militias close to Iran”, assures the Financial Times.

When contacted by AFP, a spokesperson for Santander UK assured that the bank “did not commit any violation of American sanctions, according to our investigation”.

“We have policies and procedures in place to ensure compliance with demands related to sanctions and we will continue to collaborate with authorities in the United Kingdom and the United States,” he stated.

A Lloyds spokesperson, also contacted by AFP, declared that the British bank’s activities “are conducted in a way that respects the law on sanctions”.

The British bank’s spokesperson added that it could not speak about individual customers and, “due to legal restrictions, about information relating to suspicious activity passed to authorities.”

A source close to Lloyds assured that the client mentioned by the FT is not subject to British or American sanctions.

For its part, the British Foreign Office told AFP that “the United Kingdom has highlighted more than 400 Iranian individuals or entities in connection with Iran’s destabilizing regional activities, human rights abuses and nuclear proliferation”, and denied commenting on “possible future sanctions”.