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NEW YORK Heres what happens when a business linked to Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (I.R.G.C.) is targeted with sanctions. A representative of the Revolutionary Guards finds a lawyer in Dubai and says: Look, Im on this stupid U.S. Treasury list. Ill give you 10 percent. Help me set up a shell company in Dubai or Malaysia.
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The Treasury Department enemy list (Specially Designated Nationals) is easy to find. Its at www.ustreas.gov/offices/enforcement/ofac/sdn/. Revolutionary Guard tycoons in Tehran know that. Once they have a new shell company, say in a cousins name, they circumvent the list. They go on reaping the heady profits open to the in crowd when sanctions distort an economy.
Iran has lived with sanctions for a long time; its immune systems are highly developed. As much as 20 percent of the gross national product of Dubai is linked to Iran trade. I dont see new targeted sanctions disrupting this traffic. Irans economy, even in a slump, is too big, too diverse and too sophistica