Last week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent unveiled Operation Economic Fury to put maximum financial pressure on the thugs running the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. I would like to make that economic anger a little more visible, because I think that blocking Iranian ports, which will stop the regime from making money, together with a bank freeze, are two important weapons that will ultimately end the regime.
We know that Iran’s ports are being successfully blockaded, and it won’t be long before their revenues dry up, and the IRGC, which is essentially a mafioso enterprise of the government cartel, won’t even be able to make payroll in the coming weeks and their retirement plans will fail. Over $400 million in losses on a daily basis can really hurt a company. Let’s go one step further. These gang thugs all have bank accounts abroad with the money they have extorted and robbed the citizens of Iran. Billions and billions of dollars are undoubtedly at stake.
I say these Iranian bank accounts should be seized. Places like Turkey, the UAE, Qatar, Azerbaijan, Pakistan and I’m sure many others would have to hand over the Iranian deposits, and then they could be placed in a special war account at the Treasury Department. You could say that freezing the assets is enough, but I don’t think so. The actual seizure is more comprehensive. And any of these countries that refuse to comply with Operation Economic Fury will be subject to secondary sanctions and tariffs.
That means, for example, that all of these foreign banks’ transactions with America and hopefully its allies would be removed from the international Swift payments ledger system and would no longer be eligible to conduct financial transactions managed by the New York Fed wire transfer in the United States. This would maximize financial pressure on the Iranian regime. They have been stealing money and plundering the Iranian treasury for decades.
I’m sure they were trying to diversify their international portfolios. And they’ve been getting away with it for a long time because they own all these Iranian companies. And that is one of the reasons why they are clinging to power, against all odds to lose this war to America and Israel.
Ret. US Navy SEAL Mike Sarraille discusses the feasibility of the US Navy clearing Iranian mines in the Strait of Hormuz and the impact of a regime blockade on ‘Kudlow’.
Here is one of the key points Mr. Bessent made: “One of the perhaps fatal mistakes the Iranians made was bombing” their “neighbors” in the Gulf Cooperation Council, “and are now willing to be much more transparent in terms of the funds.”
And it’s not just about oil money, it’s the non-oil companies that the IRGC thugs have taken over over the years.
Mr Bessent proposed a freeze, which is fine, but honestly I think confiscation is more powerful, and I think secondary sanctions are even more powerful.
Banking, Blockades and the Latest Iranian Financial Pressure. We’re coming to the endgame.
