Iran Directs Houthi Sanctions Evasion Network Through Shell Companies, Docs Show

A trove of confidential documents obtained by Yemen's Organized Crime and Money Laundering Tracking Platform (P.T.O.C Yemen) exposes a sophisticated sanctions evasion scheme personally overseen by Iran's Ambassador to Sanaa, Ali Rezaei, in coordination with high-ranking figures from both the Iranian and Houthi sides.

According to the documents, this Iranian scheme is overseen by Iran’s Minister of Trade, Abbas Ali Aiyadi, with the participation of a specialized technical team from his ministry, alongside a Yemeni team led by the Deputy of the Houthi Security and Intelligence Apparatus for the Economic Sector, Mohammed Qatran, the Houthi-appointed Deputy Minister of Trade, Industry, and Investment, and a person named Ayman Al-Khulqi.

Documents issued by the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Investment in Sanaa and addressed to the Houthi leadership indicate a mutual understanding between the Iranian and Houthi sides regarding a strategy aimed at transferring Iran’s expertise in circumventing economic sanctions.

Key provisions of this strategy include:

- Establishing commercial companies in countries allied with Tehran.

- Utilizing long-standing Yemeni companies for import and export operations.

- Exploiting dormant companies or those owned by political opponents or expatriates established before 2017, whose owners have left the country, allowing their use without raising suspicions.

These findings corroborate earlier reporting by Foreign Policy, revealing how Houthi operatives have systematically penetrated Iraq's banking sector, by setting up shell companies linked to Iraqi firms to leverage Iraq’s financial system, which is under direct Iranian influence.

The platform has also obtained smoking-gun evidence of a sophisticated Houthi financial network spanning three countries, using fake or forged companies, and designed to evade international sanctions.

A third document, signed by Abdulwahid Abu Ras, the Houthi deputy foreign minister responsible for external affairs, addressed the Iranian ambassador, stressing the need to engage new international intermediaries to facilitate commercial dealings with Iran. This comes after the exposure of the role of the well-known Iranian mediator Saeed Al-Jamal, who is now under tight surveillance by U.S. intelligence, particularly in East Asia and China, according to the document.

The report warns that the Houthis have adopted advanced money laundering and financial concealment methods, closely coordinated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). This necessitates urgent international action to enhance monitoring mechanisms and cut off the flow of resources exploited by the group to finance their military and political activities.