Due to international sanctions and the bank’s restricted activities in Iraq, the Central Bank of Iraq has revoked the license of the National Bank of Iran (Milli), the largest Iranian bank in the country, according to a Reuters report on Thursday.
According to Reuters, a Central Bank of Iraq document dated January 31, 2024, included this determination.
The paper said, “It has been decided to cancel your license due to the losses incurred by your branch in Iraq, its limited activities, its inability to implement or expand banking activities, and…its inclusion in international sanctions.”
Because of allegations that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard is using Bank Melli to “distribute funds to Iraqi Shiite armed groups, and that Bank Melli’s presence in Iraq is part of this scheme,” the US Treasury Department placed sanctions on the bank in 2018.
Iraq is largely dependent on Washington’s goodwill to make sure that its access to oil earnings and financial resources is not restricted. Iraq has reserves in the United States of more than $100 billion.
Iraq recently implemented procedures to prevent fraud, money laundering, and other illicit uses of US cash, and eight local commercial banks were prohibited from transacting with US dollars. The US Treasury Department applauded these efforts.
As part of a larger effort to lessen the smuggling of dollars into Iran through the Iraqi financial system, Iraq in July 2023 barred 14 banks from processing dollar transactions, according to American and Iraqi officials, following a request from Washington, as reported by Reuters.
