Iran Moved $2 Billion in Military Materials Through 5,000 Secret Defense Agencies, Reuters Finds – SOFX

Iran Moved $2 Billion in Military Materials Through 5,000 Secret Defense Agencies, Reuters Finds  SOFX

Takeaways Up Front 1. Reuters traced more than 5,000 hidden Iranian Defense Ministry agencies that buy military goods abroad. 2. Since January 2025 they 1. Reuters traced more than 5,000 hidden Iranian Defense Ministry agencies that buy military goods abroad. 2. Since January 2025 they have imported $2 billion or more in hardware, despite the U.S. blockade. 3. Shipments included rocket-fuel chemicals, detonators, titanium and trucks used as missile launchers. Iran has been buying explosives, rocket-fuel chemicals, weapons parts and heavy trucks through more than 5,000 hidden Defense Ministry agencies, with purchases totaling at least $2 billion since January 2025 despite the U.S. naval blockade and Western sanctions. Reuters uncovered the network with the Israeli-American risk firm 240 Analytics, using leaked Iranian bank files, company registries and trade data.

Four weapons and sanctions specialists who reviewed the findings told Reuters that much of the material could be used to build missiles and drones, though some of it also has civilian uses. None of the numbered agencies appears on any Western sanctions list, Reuters found. Every agency’s name starts with “MOD,” for the Ministry of Defense, plus an identifying number, and all are registered at the ministry’s Tehran address. Most were created in 2013. Middlemen abroad buy the goods with money Iran earns from illicit oil sales and ship them home,