Israel revealed what it described as the “secret path” that Iran is following to finance the Lebanese (Hezbollah) by circumventing the sanctions regime. And it was stated in a document in this regard that tens of kilograms of gold arrived from Venezuela to Europe and Syria, and were sold, and the price went to Beirut.
The document, which was ordered by the Israeli Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, to be published, added that the aforementioned “gold path” was revealed by a joint operation by the Israeli intelligence services and the staff established in the Ministry of Defense since 2018 to combat terrorism economically.
The document mentions the Iranian businessman Badr al-Din Naimi Mousavi, the owner of two real estate companies registered in Britain and a commercial company registered in Dubai.
It considers it a central element in Iranian efforts to make several countries in Latin America a source of sanctions-busting and financing Iranian arms in the Middle East. I mentioned with him the name of Hamid Abranzad, the general manager of the Iranian airline, Mahan Air.
It also published the names of senior Hezbollah officials, including Ali Kassir, the representative of the Economic Affairs Office in Tehran, and Muhammad Kassir, head of the Technical Affairs Department in Hezbollah, who manages the money transfer from Iran.
According to the document, Iran sells oil to Venezuela to circumvent US, European and international sanctions, and the price is paid in gold bars.
The Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and Hezbollah send gold from Venezuela to Iran to fund the activities of Tehran-backed militias in Lebanon.
It is noteworthy that some of this information was published in mid-2022, when an Iranian plane was arrested in Argentina on suspicion of transporting gold, and what is new is that Israeli intelligence is behind the disclosure of the information. According to this publication, the plane is registered to Amtrasur, which is owned by the Venezuelan government, but it is in fact owned by Mahan Air, which is under sanctions and was given to Venezuela for use in circumventing sanctions.
Last June, a US court ordered the confiscation of the plane, which was seized in Argentina, but there are other planes used by Iran for the same purpose.
