News · CafeF

A small, hidden entity helps Russia and Iran move billions of dollars worldwide, but the US still hesitates to crack down

The Wall Street Journal reports that money from Russia and Iran continues to flow through Chinese banks, with Zhejiang Chouzhou Commercial Bank (ZCCB) serving as a key conduit, including payments for goods that could serve military purposes. Although US officials monitored ZCCB under both the Biden and Trump administrations, Washington has not imposed sanctions, as it is hard to determine whether the bank knew the origin of the funds and it fears straining ties with Beijing. A February 2025 transaction shows a Kyrgyz company agreeing to pay about $1.5 million to a Chinese supplier for 40,000 kg of molybdenum trioxide, with payment made to an account at ZCCB. ZCCB says it complies with laws and has opened an internal probe, but cannot confirm the funds came from Russia, while China rejects unilateral US sanctions.

Summary written by Upside AI from the original article. Read the source for full details.

Original headline: Một thực thể nhỏ bé, ẩn mình giúp Nga và Iran giao dịch hàng tỷ USD trên toàn cầu, Mỹ vẫn e dè chưa xuống tay trấn áp

Read the original on CafeF ↗

Keywords

sanctionsbanksRussiaIranChina

Open a keyword to see other news on the same topic.

Related tickers and likely impact

XAU/USD

▲ Likely positive

Relevance: low

MarketGold
Close on 11/03/20263,930.22
Change that session-0.42%
XAU/USD price, forecasts and signals →

Impact is scored by AI from the headline and may be wrong. It is not investment advice.

Related news

  • China buys 39 billion cubic meters of Russian gas at an astonishingly low price, while paying other suppliers far more

    Russia is selling pipeline gas to China at a significantly lower price than to its other foreign customers, a sign of growing dependence on Beijing as Western sanctions restrict its export markets. According to Russian State Duma documents cited by The Moscow Times, China is expected to pay an average of about $248 per 1,000 m³ in 2026, 56% less than the $562 Gazprom receives from customers outside the former Soviet Union. The Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center notes that China pays Turkmenistan up to $60 more per 1,000 m³, and talks on Power of Siberia 2 have stalled over pricing. Analysts say the steep discount reflects Moscow's weaker bargaining position, while the loss of European markets leaves Gazprom with large Yamal reserves without buyers. Earlier this month, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said Russia would supply 39 billion cubic meters of gas to China via the Power of Siberia pipeline.

    CafeF·• GASnatural gasRussiaChina
  • Russia Has Transferred Non-Nuclear Submarine Technology to Strategic Partner

    A C4ADS report says Russia has transferred submarine technical documents and test materials to China since the 2010s, with the exchanges continuing after Russia launched its full-scale war in Ukraine in February 2022. The cooperation reportedly covers noise reduction, non-nuclear propulsion and hull design. Commercial records show Rubin Central Design Bureau, a sanctioned subsidiary of state-owned USC, made 12 deliveries worth over $80 million to PLA and CSOI procurement bodies between August 2015 and April 2023. An expert says some documents, including cavitation tests, suggest Rubin was helping CSOI test the effectiveness of noise-reduction technology for Chinese submarines.

    CafeF·sanctionsRussiaChina
  • Defying US blockade, 9 Iranian oil and gas tankers enter Southeast Asian waters before heading straight to neighboring Vietnam

    Fox News, citing the advocacy group UANI, reported that at least 9 Iranian oil or LPG tankers have slipped past the US naval blockade reimposed in July 2026. One example is the tanker SOGL, which left Asaluyeh in late August 2026 carrying about 500,000 barrels of LPG, refuelled near Malaysia and delivered its cargo to Qinzhou in China. According to UANI, smaller tankers in the shadow fleet switch off tracking systems, sail under false flags or transfer oil between ships at sea to avoid detection. Fox News also reported that China is the destination for nearly all of Iran's oil and LPG exports, with Malaysian sea lanes playing a key role.

    CafeF·▲ PLX▼ PVD▼ PVTIranoil pricessanctions
  • Global economy continues to grow despite Iran war | Peak Oil News and Message Boards

    According to BOFIT, the global economy has kept growing faster than forecasters expected despite the Iran war and energy supply disruptions, as countries used alternative oil routes and drew down national inventories. AI investment, especially in the US and in chip-exporting East Asian economies such as Taiwan, South Korea and China, has also supported growth. The IMF this week slightly raised its global growth forecast to 3.1 percent, and the IMF, OECD and ADB all expect China to grow around 4.5 percent this year. Russia's outlook has been revised down, with BOFIT forecasting about 1 percent this year and half a percent next year. Most risks are on the downside, particularly if the Middle East crisis depletes energy inventories or demand for AI computing capacity fades.

    peakoil.com·IMFGDP growthChina
  • European Commission reveals proceeds from €180 billion of frozen Russian assets

    Of about 300 billion euros of Russian assets frozen by the EU and G7, roughly 180 billion sit at Euroclear, and the European Commission says it has received about 8 billion euros in proceeds from them since 2024, including 1.4 billion euros in August. It received only “a significant part” of the proceeds, suggesting Belgium taxes this income at rates that could reach 30%, according to Le Soir. The EC argues the interest is legally usable because the money “does not belong to Russia,” while a Belgian legal source told TASS this is equivalent to saying bank deposit interest does not belong to the account holder. In December 2025, Russia’s central bank sued Euroclear in the Moscow Arbitration Court for 18,200 billion rubles (225.5 billion USD), amid EU plans to use the assets to support Ukraine. On May 15, 2026, the court ruled in favor of the central bank and ordered Euroclear Bank to pay, and on May 20 the bank asked the court to enforce the ruling immediately.

    CafeF·RussiasanctionsEurope
  • What Is Citigroup (C) Signaling With China Talks And Its AI Reset?

    Citigroup (C) was the subject of formal talks in Bangkok between U.S. and Chinese officials on its access to China's financial market and its operating permissions there. At the same time, the bank expanded and reshaped its central AI leadership group, hiring senior talent from Google and moving several executives into new roles. The article says broader China permissions would support the services and cross-border payments engine, but regulatory risk remains because the policymakers being courted also enforce the sanctions and controls analysts already flag as a vulnerability. The centralized AI team, restricted agent access to accounts and new responsible AI unit raise questions about whether compliance, infrastructure and costs can keep pace. Citigroup has a market value of about $205.7 billion.

    Yahoo Finance·CitigroupbanksChina

Related markets

Gold →

Latest news

  • Apple Says It Will Keep Paying More for Memory Chips After December. That's Good News for Micron Stock.

    Micron shares fell about 6% on the same day Kioxia sank about 16% in Tokyo, after Kioxia guided for only about 1% sequential revenue growth in the December quarter. After its earnings call, Apple said it expects memory prices to keep rising beyond the December quarter, calling current pricing "unprecedented." Most of Micron's sales are DRAM, which hit a record $39.8 billion in its fiscal fourth quarter, up 343% year over year, though its price increases are slowing. The stock trades near $860, over 30% below its 52-week high of $1,255, and the author argues Apple's warning is good news for Micron, whose valuation may already assume memory profits fall sharply.

    Yahoo Finance·▼ AAPL
  • [UPDATE] CNN projects Democrats will take the House from Republicans, President Trump denies responsibility

    Democrat Chris Pappas won the New Hampshire Senate seat, defeating Republican John Sununu. AP projects Democrat Mark Warner will win re-election in Virginia over Bert Mizusawa, while Debbie Wasserman Schultz won the Florida 20th district House seat. CNN and AP project Jon Ossoff will be re-elected in Georgia over Mike Collins, but a runoff on December 1 would follow if no candidate wins a majority. Democrats also won Senate races in New Jersey, Illinois, Delaware, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Early projections are not final results, and some close races may take hours or even days to decide.

    CafeF·▼ BTC/USDT▼ ETH/USDTmidterm electionsDemocratic PartyRepublican Party
  • Democrats claim control of the US Senate

    According to the AP, Democrats have won control of the Senate after Josh Turek won the Iowa race, bringing their total, including independents who caucus with them, to 51 seats. The shift could change the path of the stalled CLARITY Act, reshape committee leadership and bring closer scrutiny of Trump-linked crypto businesses and regulators' decisions. The CLARITY Act failed a Senate procedural vote 49 to 50 in September, and if it is not passed by January, the next Congress starts from scratch. Jerome de Tychey, president of Ethereum France, said nothing will pass without cross-partisan support and warned that the biggest risk for US crypto is becoming a partisan issue.

    Cointelegraph·▼ BTC/USDT▼ ETH/USDTDemocratic Partymidterm electionscrypto
  • Why Shake Shack Stock Jumped 20% in October

    Shake Shack shares rose 20% in October according to S&P Global Market Intelligence, amid a broader rotation into restaurant stocks as investors sold AI stocks. The gain was supported by plans to enter Brazil through a licensing partnership, several positive analyst notes, including Morgan Stanley raising its price target from $74 to $79 and UBS lifting its target from $68 to $73, and a late-month jump tied to Nelson Peltz's buyout proposal for Wendy's. Shake Shack will report third-quarter earnings on Thursday, with analysts expecting revenue to grow 16% to $426.3 million and adjusted EPS to fall from $0.36 to $0.34. Investors will watch same-store sales growth and margins, as the company has struggled to turn revenue growth into profit growth.

    Yahoo Finance·earningsmergers and acquisitionsrestaurants
  • Financial markets turbulent, safe-haven assets gain favor, except gold

    Volatility from the AI rally has pushed investors toward US Treasuries, the dollar, the Swiss franc and the yen, but gold has not attracted inflows. Gold fell below 4,000 USD/ounce, its lowest level in a year, while central bank gold purchases rose 42% in the third quarter to 321 tonnes. Since the US and Israel first attacked Iran, gold has lost about a quarter of its value and is down 9% year to date in USD terms, the weakest of 14 major asset classes in Bank of America's ranking. Standard Chartered finds the correlation between gold and the S&P 500 has risen to 0.48 on a three-month rolling basis and 0.69 over one month. The bank's analysts say that in the short term, the need to raise cash could lead investors to sell gold rather than buy more.

    Vietstock·▼ PAXG/USDT▼ XAUT/USDT▼ XAU/USDgoldbondsUS dollar
  • Over 2.5 million tax codes stuck: Debt write-off is not enough, a streamlined dissolution path is needed

    The Ministry of Finance says that as of 23 October 2026, over 2.5 million taxpayers had ceased operating without completing procedures to close their tax codes or no longer operated at their registered address, including about 643,000 in status 03 and nearly 1.88 million in status 06. The ministry proposes waiving business licence fees and late-payment interest and reducing penalties for late tax filings, but lawyer Nguyen Van Duoc argues the bigger bottleneck is reconstructing years of accounting records, which is nearly infeasible for firms dormant for 10-20 years. He proposes allowing retroactive dissolution dates tied to when the tax authority determines a firm is no longer operating, alongside a streamlined dissolution process. As an example, a firm inactive since 2007 faced more than VND 78.2 million in charges that could fall to VND 6.9 million under the draft. VTCA proposes classifying files and handling cases based on data.

    CafeF·taxesbusinesses

All news →

Get the briefing on Telegram or Zalo

Join the Upside Telegram channel or Zalo group for the Vietnam stocks and gold briefing at 8:00 and 19:00 (Vietnam time) on trading days, plus a weekly wrap on Saturday morning.