U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Wednesday announced a partnership between federal law enforcement agencies and international financial institutions to block Iran’s access to the global financial system.
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) simultaneously took action against a shadowy network that finances the Iran-backed Houthi terrorists of Yemen.
Bessent said Wednesday’s actions were part of a sustained campaign against Iran’s “shadow banking” network, which helps the terror state evade sanctions to sell its oil and finance Shiite militants across the Middle East.
“Our objective is to thwart Iran’s ability to lead and sponsor terrorism, deny Iran’s attempts to grow its nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles programs, and punish Iran for its heinous human rights abuses,” he said at an event held by the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).
Bessent laid out two important goals for FinCEN’s Iran Maximum Pressure and Counter Terrorism (IMPACT) program: enhancing collaboration between regulatory agencies and the private sector to “counter Iran’s destabilizing behavior” and collecting more feedback from private financial institutions to develop more effective techniques.
“We are also focused on a range of illicit finance challenges beyond Iran, including narcotics trafficking,” the treasury secretary added, noting that drug cartels must also be locked out of the American and global financial systems.
“We will also continue our work to protect our homeland from human and child smugglers and traffickers, all with amplified priority,” Bessent pledged.
OFAC, the Treasury Department’s agency for administering economic and trade sanctions, on Tuesday announced sanctions against six entities and two individuals in Iran, the United Arab Emirates, and China for procuring drone components on behalf of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a U.S.-designated terrorist organization.
It was the second round of sanctions issued under President Donald Trump’s February memorandum authorizing a “maximum pressure” campaign against the theocratic republic.
“Iran’s proliferation of UAVs and missiles — both to its terrorist proxies in the region and to Russia for its use against Ukraine — continues to threaten civilians, U.S. personnel, and our allies and partners,” Bessent said when announcing the sanctions.
On Wednesday, OFAC acted again, this time against a Houthi finance and procurement network managed by Sa’id al-Jamal, a senior Houthi financier whose activities are supported by the IRGC. Al-Jamal was also targeted by OFAC sanctions under the administration of former President Joe Biden.
“The Houthis remain reliant on Sa’id al-Jamal and his network to procure critical goods to supply the group’s terrorist war machine,” Bessent noted. “Today’s action underscores our commitment to degrading the Houthis’ ability to threaten the region through their destabilizing activities.”
The Houthi procurement network’s tentacles reach all the way to Russia, where a gang has stolen Ukrainian grain and shipped it to the Houthis in Yemen and Turkey — where an Iranian money launderer named Hassan Jafari works with millions of dollars in Houthi funding.
