Iran Revives Babak Zanjani to Dodge US Sanctions as Washington Targets $2.6 Billion Evasion Networks
Updated
Updated · DW (English) · Sep 3
Iran Revives Babak Zanjani to Dodge US Sanctions as Washington Targets $2.6 Billion Evasion Networks
2 articles · Updated · DW (English) · Sep 3
Summary
Babak Zanjani, 53, has reemerged as Iran tightens reliance on veteran sanctions-busting networks, with state-linked media saying he proposed using cryptocurrencies to support oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump's latest sanctions—covering oil, banking, gold, shipping, aviation, technology and increasingly crypto—aim to choke off the channels Tehran has long used for trade, money transfers and oil-related business outside dollar networks.
Zanjani once controlled about 60 companies across Malaysia, Tajikistan, Turkey and the UAE, sold Iranian oil on the black market, and was sentenced to death in 2016 over roughly $2.6 billion in missing oil revenue before his 2025 release.
US investigators learned how those systems worked through cases such as Turkish-Iranian trader Reza Zarrab, whose 2016 arrest and later cooperation helped Washington map Iran's sanctions-evasion routes more precisely.
Iran's return to figures like Zanjani underscores both the depth of its shadow economy and the uncertainty over whether even the toughest new US measures can cripple networks built over decades.