For decades, Swiss banks have served as a repository for funds linked to “rogue regimes”, dictators, and corrupt officials

While the press coverage has been focused largely on the kinetic—and lately (since the closure of the Straits of Hormuz) on the sub-kinetic coercive—dimensions of the ongoing conflict in Iran, there is an additional aspect that usually avoids the full glare of media attention.

A repository for funds of “rogue regimes.”

This is the financial dimension—in particular, the banking sector, which often undergiths the ability of protagonists in a conflict to sustain their military operations—including payment of salaries to the military, acquisition of armaments, replenishment of ordinance, and so on. In this regard, Switzerland and its banking system hold a place of prominence. The Swiss banking sector is one of the most important in the world and is a central lynchpin of the Alpine nation’s economy.

Specifically for the purposes of this article, Switzerland holds roughly 25% of all global cross-border assets.

While all this speaks to the significance of the banking sector of the Swiss economy, there is a darker side to the picture. Indeed, historically, Swiss banks have served as a repository for funds linked to “rogue regimes”, dictators, and corrupt officials, something which, allegedly, continues in various forms, despite significant tightening of financial regulations in recent decades.

Clearly, today, with the conflict in Iran and its indisputably “rogue” regime, this steers attention to the relationship between Switzerland and the theocratic tyranny in Iran.

Helvetian guardians of the riches of the tyrants

But picturesque Switzerland’s murky history with unsavory regimes is not a recent phenomenon. Indeed, it can be traced back as far as the mid-1700s. However, its international........

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