In a scathing new report, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has revealed how loopholes in global finance are being weaponised to fund the world’s most dangerous regimes. From North Korea’s $1.5 billion crypto heist to Iran’s oil-smuggling networks and the use of fake firms in sanctions evasion, the watchdog paints a dire picture of an international system under siege by state-sponsored illicit finance.

The FATF’s June 2025 report underscores an alarming rise in the misuse of financial channels — including cybercrime, cryptocurrency, and decentralized finance (DeFi) — to bypass international sanctions and fund weapons of mass destruction (WMD).

It identifies North Korea as the most significant actor in proliferation…