Senior US Treasury official travels to Iraq to counter illicit finance

The U.S. Treasury Department’s top sanctions official traveled to Baghdad on Sunday, a Treasury spokesperson said, as Washington seeks to counter Iran’s sanctions evasion in Iraq and bring the country’s financial sector in line with international standards.
Treasury’s Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Brian Nelson, traveled to Iraq from Sunday to Monday, where he met with senior Iraqi officials, including Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani, as part of work on countering illicit finance, the spokesperson said.
While on the trip, Nelson discussed with counterparts protecting Iraqi and international financial systems from criminal, corrupt and terrorist actors, the spokesperson said, adding that Washington would partner to protect Iraq’s financial sector “from abuse by Iran or other malign actors.”
The Iraqi government came to power with the support of powerful, Iran-backed parties and armed groups with interests in Iraq’s highly informal economy.