US Treasury Secretary Scott Besant arrives at a meeting of G7 finance ministers and central bank governors to prepare for the June 2026 summit of heads of state and government in Evian, Paris, May 18, 2026.
Julian De Rosa AFP | getty images
Treasury Secretary Scott Besant urged world leaders at the G7 summit on Tuesday to help the US combat Iranian terrorism by “rooting out the financing that sustains it” while introducing a new rulebook to impose “aggressive and targeted” sanctions.
In her speech at the “No Money for Terror” conference in Paris, Besant said, “Crushing the menace of terrorism compels all of you to come forward and join us,” after claiming that America often fights alone.
The comments come after President Donald Trump and other US officials called for more countries to join the ongoing war against Iran that is wreaking havoc on the global economy, even as the conflict remains stuck in an uneasy stalemate.
Besant claimed at the conference that “no adversary has felt the force of America’s economic statecraft more devastatingly than Iran,” crediting the “modern sanctions architecture” underpinning the effort, dubbed “Operation Economic Fury.”
“We are reviewing outdated and obsolete designations to help financial institutions focus on the most sophisticated terrorist financing and sanctions evasion schemes,” Besant said. “Sanctions should not last so long that their intended effects produce unintended consequences. The most effective actions are aggressive and targeted, with defined timelines to have specific effects.”
Through its economic and military actions, he said, the US has stifled the revenues of Iran’s weapons programs, terrorist proxies, and nuclear efforts, while “depriving billions of dollars of the regime’s projected oil revenues.”
The US actions have largely disrupted Iran’s “illicit financial flows” and frozen cryptocurrencies linked to the regime, he said, “and we have intensified our crackdown on Tehran’s shadow banking networks.”
The Cabinet Secretary reiterated that the US wants more countries to participate in its sanctions agenda. He said, “As the United States continues to target the financial networks that enemy actors use to spread terror, we are confident that your participation here today fully demonstrates our readiness to stand with us.”
“For example, our European partners would need to join with the United States to take action against Iran by designating its financiers, exposing its shell and shell companies, closing its bank branches, and eliminating its proxies.”
He said, “In short, if you share our fury about Iran’s destabilizing agenda, the terrorists trying to hold the global economy hostage, the drug cartels poisoning our communities, and the threats to innocent lives, then now is the time to join with the United States in moving forward aggressively.”