“Economic security is national security.” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent put it that bluntly on May 19, 2026, when he spoke to the No Money for Terror conference in Paris.
His main target was Iran. Bessent described a campaign meant to impose “a financial stranglehold on the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism.” The tally he gave: tens of billions in oil revenue disrupted, nearly half a billion in cryptocurrency frozen, and shadow banking networks in the crosshairs.
Washington cannot do this alone, he told the room, and he named what he wanted from specific regions. European partners should designate Iranian financiers and dismantle the proxies. Governments in the Middle East and Asia should go after Iran’s shadow banking. The U.S., he said, feels isolated in the fight.
From Hezbollah to Sinaloa
The list did not stop at Tehran. “Our partners in the world will have to respond with force against the variety of terrorists we face, from Hezbollah to the Sinaloa Cartel,” Bessent said, according to Mexico’s ADN40. The U.S. branded the cartel a foreign terrorist organization in 2025, citing fentanyl trafficking into American communities. His asks on that front were practical: designate the financiers, expose the shell companies and fronts, close the bank branches terror groups rely on.
He also said Treasury is reviewing “outdated and obsolete designations.” Sanctions, in his telling, should pursue “specific objectives” within defined timelines instead of lingering for years.
Flotilla designations
The same day, the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced sanctions on four individuals tied to a pro-Hamas flotilla, along with officials from related organizations. Thomson Reuters noted the move follows earlier designations against Hamas financing networks in October 2024 and January 2026. U.S. persons are generally barred from transactions involving the designated parties’ assets without authorization.
Bessent closed by asking attendees to keep the pressure on after the conference ended, and not to “grow weary in vigilance” before their adversaries do.
Sources
- Remarks by Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent Before the No Money for Terror Conference
- EUA exige a sus socios asfixiar las finanzas del Cartel de Sinaloa (ADN40, Mexico)
- US targets flotilla organizers, Muslim networks (Thomson Reuters regulatory insights)
