Cash-strapped Iranian regime slashes funding to terror groups - Report

                     

The Iranian regime has slashed its funding of terrorist groups in the Middle East after its budget was hit by a plunge in oil prices.

The regime is now allocating 25 per cent less to Lebanese Hezbollah and other paramilitary groups dependent on the clerical regime for their cash-flow, Kuwaiti newspaper al Qabas said.

A sharp drop in oil prices from $140 a barrel to around $75 a barrel was cited as the main reason for the cut in spending on groups that Iran pays to meddle in the region.

Experts now predict that plunging oil prices could send the Iranian economy spiralling into even deeper debt next year.

The grim economic forecast also comes amid revelations that the Iranian regime is transferring money via Chinese companies and banks to help fund their terrorist Quds Force

A new Western intelligence report seen by the Reuters news agency names the Shenzhen Lanhao Days Electronic Technology Co Ltd as one outfit receiving Iranian cash which is then passed onto the elite force which is part of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.

The Quds Force provides arms, aid and training for terrorist groups in the Middle East.

US and European officials say they have also armed and trained government forces in Syria's civil war in violation of a UN arms embargo, and have been sanctioned as supporters of terrorism by both Washington and the EU.

The intelligence report said the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) holds accounts with the Bank of Kunlun Co Ltd, a China National Petroleum Corp unit. Quds-controlled Iranian companies, including one called Bamdad Capital Development Co, then make transfers from these accounts to either Chinese entities directly controlled by the Quds or to Chinese entities owed money by the Quds, such as Shenzhen Lanhao.

The seven-page report said: "The money transfers from accounts held by the CBI with Bank Kunlun are initiated by the Quds Force and transferred to Chinese companies connected to the Quds Force in order to meet its financial needs."