STR: Suspicious Transaction Report

Why disruption, intelligence and genuine public–private partnership matter more than promises to eliminate every terrorist dollar.
Terrorism may have slipped down the political agenda, but its financing remains a critical national security challenge. Attacks can be inexpensive, but terrorist organisations still require money and resources to recruit, communicate, travel, operate and sustain their wider networks.
In this latest episode of the Suspicious Transaction Report, host Tom Keatinge is joined by Jason Blazakis, formerly Director of Counterterrorism Finance and Designations in the US State Department's Counterterrorism Bureau, currently a Professor at the Middlebury Institute in Monterey, California, and author of Terror Disrupted: Countering the Financing of Terrorism.
They examine how terrorist financing has evolved since 9/11, what governments learned from confronting Islamic State, and the essential role of financial intelligence and private-sector partnership.
The discussion also explores the extraordinary bureaucracy behind US terrorist designations, the challenge posed by the transnational radical right, the limitations of state-sponsor listings and the declining effectiveness of multilateral counterterrorist-financing mechanisms.
At the heart of the conversation is a simple conclusion: success should not be measured by whether every terrorist dollar is eliminated, but by whether financial networks are disrupted, resources restricted and intelligence converted into effective action.
Further reading from the Centre for Finance and Security at RUSI:
·       A Sharper Image: Advancing a Risk-Based Response to Terrorist Financing | Royal United Services Institute
·       Terrorist Financing in the Age of Large Language Models
·       Virtual Threats: Terrorist Financing via Online Gaming
Further reading from Project CRAFT:
·       Project CRAFT (Collaboration, Research and Analysis Against the Financing of Terrorism) is an academic research and community building initiative designed to improve counter terrorist financing (CTF) capacity around the globe. In 2025, CFS held a roundtable discussion to assess recent developments in CTF and produced a report entitled, Reassessing the Financing of Terrorism in 2025.

How Iran uses proxies, shadow banking and criminal cut-outs to fund external operations and evade sanctions.
Iranian-linked plots, surveillance activity and intimidation operations are drawing growing concern across Europe. But behind these activities sits a wider financial and logistical architecture that allows Tehran and its proxies to move money, evade sanctions and support operations abroad.
In this episode of the Suspicious Transaction Report, Kinga Redlowska is joined by Matthew Levitt, Director of the Reinhard Programme on Counterterrorism and Intelligence at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, to examine how Iran's external operations are evolving and what this means for Europe.
They discuss the use of criminal intermediaries, online recruitment and low-cost 'gig economy' tasking; the role of oil revenues, front companies and shadow banking in financing Iran's proxies; and the connections between sanctions evasion, procurement networks and operational activity.
The conversation also considers Europe's response, the need to close gaps between counterterrorism, counterintelligence and organised crime investigations, and why stronger political will, enforcement capacity and cross-border cooperation will be essential as Iran's networks become more global, flexible and difficult to disrupt.

How Chinese money laundering organisations exploit capital controls, criminal cash and informal value transfer systems to move illicit wealth across borders.
Chinese money laundering organisations have become a growing concern for law enforcement, policymakers and the private sector. But how do these networks operate, why are they attractive to organised crime groups, and what makes the UK vulnerable? Host Tom Keatinge is joined by Kathryn Westmore and Teddy Nicholson.
Previously at RUSI, Kathryn is now a Senior Associate Fellow of the CFS programme and author of the SOC ACE research paper Flying Money, Hidden Threat Understanding the growth of Chinese Money Laundering Organisations.
Teddy Nicholson is with the NCA's National Economic Crime Centre where he leads their strategy to tackle international illicit finance, to explore the rise of Chinese money laundering organisations, the role of underground banking and informal value transfer systems (IVTS), and the demand created by China's capital controls.
Together with Tom, they discuss why these services are used by organised crime groups including those involved in the cocaine trade, how money laundering networks are adapting through crypto, fintech-style tools and cross-border criminal services, and how law enforcement agencies and the regulated sector can respond.

Money, media and influence networks are turning political grievances into engines of power and profit.
Populist movements are reshaping politics across Europe and North America. But beyond the rhetoric, rallies and social media campaigns lays a critical question: who is funding this political transformation – and why?
Host Tom Keatinge is joined in this latest episode by Liam Byrne MP, author of Why Populists Are Winning and How to Beat Them, to explore the financial architecture behind contemporary populism. They examine the 'supply side' of populist politics: the role of major donors, offshore money, media ownership, opaque influence networks, algorithmic amplification, why political finance can no longer be viewed separately from media influence and national security, and, ultimately, who profits from the resulting political turbulence.

Crypto use is central to Russia's evasion of sanctions aimed at restricting its military procurement. It is past time for action.
Over the past four years, sanctions against the financing and resourcing of the Russian military have been a key pillar of the West's response to the Kremlin's illegal war of aggression in Ukraine. But as pressure has mounted on the traditional financial system, a parallel ecosystem has taken shape — one that operates beyond the reach of conventional controls.
From shadow fleets moving oil, to increasingly sophisticated procurement networks, Russia has shown a clear ability to adapt. And now, crypto is playing a growing role in enabling the purchase of the goods and components that sustain its war machine.
In this latest episode, host Tom Keatinge, Director of the Centre for Finance & Security at RUSI, is joined by Gonzalo Saiz from the CFS team, and Kaitlin Martin, a Senior Intelligence Analyst on the National Security Intelligence team at Chainalysis, to explore how crypto is being used in Russia's procurement networks, and what policymakers need to do to keep up.