The Terrorist Financing Targeting Center (TFTC), a multilateral effort among the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Oman to counter terrorist financing, convened a regional capacity-building workshop in Riyadh. The workshop focused on Iranian illicit finance schemes and the risks Iran poses to the international financial system. TFTC members presented a series of case studies and discussed best practices and steps their governments have taken or could take to further disrupt the Iranian regime's malign activities. The case studies included two ballistic missile procurement networks, that used front companies to obfuscate the end user of goods for missile proliferation and a cyber-scheme involving virtual currencies that enabled illicit financial activities. All of the case studies highlight Iran-related illicit finance and sanctions evasion schemes intended to skirt anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) regimes around the world. TFTC member states also offered expert support on best practices for complying with the United Nations Security Council Resolutions and Financial Action Task Force international standards. For example, they discussed key features of countering weapons of mass destruction proliferation financing, vulnerabilities of general trading companies, how to strengthen financial transparency of the private sector by implementing appropriate customer due diligence and other preventive measures, and the importance of effectively regulating and supervising digital asset financial activities and related digital currency providers for AML/CFT. The capacity-building workshop is critical to the core TFTC mission, disrupting the flow of illicit funds to terrorists and terrorist organizations.
