U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called on international partners to intensify efforts to fight terrorist financing, particularly networks tied to Iran.
Speaking at the fifth annual No Money for Terror conference, a ministerial-level event linked to the G7, in Paris on Monday, Bessent said that the United States “is hardly alone in facing the scourge of terrorism, especially from Iran.”
But Washington is “too often” alone in its resolve to confront it, the secretary said.
Bessent urged allied governments to “step up and join us in rooting out the financing that sustains” terrorism, citing shell companies operating in Europe, shadow banking networks across the Middle East and drug cartels in the Western Hemisphere.
He called on European allies to sanction Iranian financiers, dismantle front companies and shutter banking operations linked to Tehran.
“Let us proceed with the recognition that peace is preserved not by sentiment alone but by those willing to defend its foundations,” he said. “Let us deny our adversaries the one thing on which they count most: that those of us assembled in this room will grow weary in our vigilance before they do.”
Bessent has led the so-called “Economic Fury” operation, which has regularly levied sanctions at Iran’s oil sector and other revenue-generating operations, such as banking and cryptocurrency, in tandem with the U.S. military’s “Operation Epic Fury” mission.
“At their core, sanctions are not acts of aggression. They are instruments of peace,” Bessent said.
“Their purpose is not to condemn nations or people to indefinite isolation but to create the conditions that can hasten a change in behavior,” he said. “Any sanctions Treasury deploys today are carefully monitored and adjusted to ensure that they achieve their specific objectives.”
