Trump 'rented office to Iranian bank with terrorism ties'

According to public records seen by a journalist consortium, the Republican presidential candidate continued to rent space to Iran's Bank Melli, five years after buying their New York office lease and possibly whilst under an official embargo.

The findings have been billed as 'hypocritical', as it shows that whilst Trump was calling for sanctions on Iran in 2015, he had also profited from Iranian business which was funding the Iranian revolutionary guards.

"It's a pretty hypocritical position to take," Richard Nephew, an Iranian sanctions policy maker, told the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). "It suggests that his principles are pretty flexible when it comes to him getting paid."

The ICIJ reports that Trump rented out office space in the General Motors Building in Manhattan, New York to the bank between 1998 and 2003.

A court document shows that the annual rent for the 740m2 office may have been more than half a million dollars a year.

"It's a pretty hypocritical position to take" Richard Nephew, an Iranian sanctions policy maker

Many Iranian companies were under an American embargo at the time, but it was legal to work with companies with official exemption licenses.

It is not currently possible to know if Trump broke the law however, as the United States' Treasury does not give out information on individual exemptions.

The US Treasury, the Trump campaign and Bank Melli all declined to comment on whether an exemption had been made to allow rent payments in the building.

It is known that Bank Melli was not operating out of the office as it had been banned by the US government from conducting transactions in the country.

Hope Hicks, a campaign spokeswoman told the ICIJ: "Mr. Trump's sole focus is and will be on making our country great again."