Middle East Forum: Russia and Iran have created an extensive decentralized settlement system to circumvent Western sanctions, finance military programs, and transfer funds to elements associated with Iran's IRGC and Hamas. At the center of this system is the Russian financial network A7, created with the participation of Promsvyazbank. According to the US Treasury Department, from January 2025 to June 2026, the intermediary companies of this network carried out operations worth more than 17 billion dollars. Some of these structures served Iranian oil operations and weapons purchases. The program also includes decentralized currency platforms Shelbit and kenSpot, which are associated with Russian and Iranian financial institutions. According to an analysis by TRM Labs, about $6.3 billion passed through Shelbit-related wallets, of which $318 million came from A7 transactions. The main tool of calculations is the USDT stablecoin, on the occasion of the US dollar. Despite US sanctions against network participants, the financial infrastructure continues to function. In particular, Russian banks are developing their own mechanisms for international decentralized currency settlements, and intermediaries in third countries provide access to the global financial system. The author of the study, Leonid Barts, points out that Washington still sees individual elements of this system mainly as independent structures, although in fact they form a large interconnected network. It proposes extending the sanctions to the entire chain of intermediaries, increasing pressure on banks and decentralized platforms, as well as blocking related crypto wallets. @igal levin.

Middle East Forum: Russia and Iran have created an extensive decentralized settlement system to circumvent Western sanctions, finance military programs, and transfer funds to elements associated with Iran's IRGC and Hamas. At the center of this system is the Russian financial network A7, created with the participation of Promsvyazbank. According to the US Treasury Department, from January 2025 to June 2026, the intermediary companies of this network carried out operations worth more than 17 billion dollars. Some of these structures served Iranian oil operations and weapons purchases. The program also includes decentralized currency platforms Shelbit and kenSpot, which are associated with Russian and Iranian financial institutions. According to an analysis by TRM Labs, about $6.3 billion passed through Shelbit-related wallets, of which $318 million came from A7 transactions. The main tool of calculations is the USDT stablecoin, on the occasion of the US dollar. Despite US sanctions against network participants, the financial infrastructure continues to function. In particular, Russian banks are developing their own mechanisms for international decentralized currency settlements, and intermediaries in third countries provide access to the global financial system. The author of the study, Leonid Barts, points out that Washington still sees individual elements of this system mainly as independent structures, although in fact they form a large interconnected network. It proposes extending the sanctions to the entire chain of intermediaries, increasing pressure on banks and decentralized platforms, as well as blocking related crypto wallets. @igal levin.