Bank Melli stayed in Trump’s building until 2003, four years after the US Treasury Department had already designated the bank as Iranian government controlled.
In 1998 when Donald Trump purchased the General Motors Building in Manhattan one of the tenants was Bank Melli, an Iranian bank controlled by the state and linked by the US to terrorist groups as well as Iran’s nuclear program, NBC news reported Monday. The report was came from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.
Bank Melli stayed in the building until 2003, four years after the US Treasury Department had already designated the bank as Iranian government controlled.
From 2002 to 2006, part of which the bank was still renting form Trump, Bank Melli was allegedly funneling money to the Iranian Revolutionary guard, specifically to a unit sponsoring terror attacks.
Trump may have been receiving half a million in rent money from the bank yearly, any legal ramifications from the situation was unclear.
The US had embargoed most business with Iran, however not all organizations were embargoed.
NBC reported that the Treasury Department did not disclose to the public what business were allowed, they also declined to answer weather a license has been issued to Trump or the bank. The Trump campaign as well as Bank Melli both declined to comment on the license issue.
It was also reported that the ICIJ attempted to contact Bank Melli at their offices in Tehran as well as London and Paris, however the bank never responded.
The bank was banned from transactions in the US though could have stayed in New York hoping the ban would be reversed.
In the US presidential election, Trump has repeatedly criticized the Iran deal even claiming that Iran would become a “world power” due to it.
However, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization stated that Trump wining the election would not effect the deal.
As reported by The Jerusalem Post