Countering Iran and its Proxies through Enhanced Counterterrorist Financing in Iraq

The Department of State’s Bureau of Counterterrorism (CT) announces this funding opportunity to strengthen Iraq’s anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) regime through targeted training and technical assistance. The program aims to deliver concrete returns for American taxpayers by disrupting the financial networks of Iran, its proxy groups, and other U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs). The program will work exclusively with applicable U.S.-aligned Iraqi financial authorities, law enforcement agencies, and judicial institutions to detect, investigate, and disrupt terrorist financing networks. The program has four main outcomes: • Protect the homeland, Americans, and U.S. interests by denying Iran and its proxies the ability to raise, store, and move funds through Iraq’s financial system. • Strengthen Iraq’s ability to investigate and prosecute, and disrupt terrorist financing and other illicit activities. • Strengthen the ability of Iraqi national authorities to collect, analyze, and appropriately and securely share financial intelligence. • Strengthen Iraqi public and private sector compliance with AML/CFT obligations. Some key activities of the program include: • Providing training and technical assistance to Iraqi authorities to enhance their capabilities to detect and dismantle terrorist financing networks. • Establishing an Iraqi-owned training capability to reduce long-term U.S. resource commitments. • Improving interagency coordination and cooperation among Iraqi national authorities and between Iraq and the United States. The program will be awarded as a cooperative agreement, which requires substantial involvement by CT throughout the program lifecycle.