 |
Perhaps it’s a perverse way of marking the upcoming first anniversary of the stolen election - Iran’s Bank Melli has opened a “women-only” branch in Mashhad.
While promoting “virtue” at home, Bank Melli has attracted more critical scrutiny abroad. In 2007, the bank was designated by the US government for its involvement in Tehran’s nuclear program and for providing banking services to the Revolutionary Guard and the Qods Force. Here’s more detail:
Bank Melli is Iran’s largest bank. Bank Melli provides banking services to entities involved in Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs, including entities listed by the U.N. for their involvement in those programs. This includes handling transactions in recent months for Bank Sepah, Defense Industries Organization, and Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group. Following the designation of Bank Sepah under UNSCR 1747, Bank Melli took precautions not to identify Sepah in transactions. Through its role as a financial conduit, Bank Melli has facilitated numerous purchases of sensitive materials for Iran’s nuclear and missile programs. In doing so, Bank Melli has provided a range of financial services on behalf of Iran’s nuclear and missile industries, including opening letters of credit and maintaining accounts.
Bank Melli also provides banking services to the IRGC and the Qods Force. Entities owned or controlled by the IRGC or the Qods Force use Bank Melli for a variety of financial services. From 2002 to 2006, Bank Melli was used to send at least $100 million to the Qods Force. When handling financial transactions on behalf of the IRGC, Bank Melli has employed deceptive banking practices to obscure its involvement from the international banking system. For example, Bank Melli has requested that its name be removed from financial transactions.
Yes. Very virtuous.
Right before I left Iran as a teenager, the regime introduced women-only buses to the streets of Tehran. I vividly remember one instance involving one such bus. My mother, grandmother, and I were waiting for a bus at a bus stop on a busy highway. Unlucky for us, one of these women-only buses showed up. My mother and grandmother, of course, weren’t going to leave me on that highway many miles away from our neighborhood. So they nonchalantly got on the bus and had me follow along. (The law made an exemption for “children” accompanying women, of course). But the bus driver immediately noticed: I was no child! I was an awkward teen carrying all of the awkward physical indicia of the transition to manhood. But my grandmother insisted that I was a child of no more than 8 and pushed our way down the aisle. The driver didn’t seriously object and we went on our marry way. Of course, in the back of the bus, we (my kin and many of the women) on the bus laughed our asses off - at the ridiculousness of the law, at the regime for making Iranians do such ridiculous things, and the absurdity of it all. The kind of cynical laughter only people who have lived through totalitarian regimes have “enjoyed.”