Iran is subject to US economic sanctions (Shutterstock)

A source close to the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied what the British newspaper "Financial Times" reported that Tehran used two banks in Britain to evade sanctions and secretly transfer money around the world. The source said that the aim of these "lies" is to present a false message to public opinion.

The source, who preferred to remain anonymous, added to Al Jazeera Net that this is what Iran is accustomed to and has been repeated several times by Britain and the United States.

He wondered, "How can we believe this scenario and this story from a country that claims to monitor every meter of the streets and alleys of its cities with smart cameras?"

Al Jazeera Net correspondent Ghazal Arihi tried to obtain an official Iranian position on these accusations, but did not receive a response at the time of writing this report.

Two banks

The British newspaper "Financial Times" reported on Monday that Iran used Lloyds and Santander banks in Britain to secretly transfer money around the world, as part of a broad plan to evade sanctions, supported by Iranian intelligence services.

According to documents that the newspaper said it had seen, the two banks provided accounts to British front companies, which are secretly owned by the sanctioned Iranian Petrochemical Commercial Company, which is headquartered near Buckingham Palace.

The state-controlled Iranian petrochemical trading company was part of a network that the United States accuses of raising hundreds of millions of dollars for the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, and working with Russian intelligence agencies to raise money for Iranian proxy militias, according to the newspaper.

Both the petrochemical trading company and its British subsidiary have been subject to US sanctions since November 2018, but it has continued to operate from an office in Grosvenor Gardens in Belgravia through a complex network of front companies in Britain and other countries, according to documents, emails and accounting records for the newspaper. .

What the newspaper published comes after the British Air Force recently joined the US air strikes against the Houthis in Yemen, in response to their targeting of ships they say are Israeli, or heading to Israel after its war on the Gaza Strip.

The Iranian source told Al Jazeera Net, "It is clear that this news and other similar news are part of the American and British scenario, to cover up the large-scale historical genocide committed by the Zionist regime, and the martyrdom of more than 27,000 innocent people and civilians in Palestine."

He continued, "Ansar Allah (Houthis) in Yemen stand alone in the face of the American and British war machine... Fake news cannot diminish the values ​​of the Yemenis."

This week, Britain and the United States imposed sanctions on what they called a “transnational assassination network,” which they said was supervised by Iranian intelligence, and that it targeted activists and opponents, including those residing in Britain.

Documents analyzed by the Financial Times show that since being placed under US sanctions, the petrochemical trading company has used other companies in Britain to receive money from Iranian front entities in China, while concealing its true ownership through authorization agreements and appointed directors.

Source: Al Jazeera + Financial Times