Agency reports
The Biden administration has dispatched its top official in charge of economic sanctions to the Middle East this weekend, as the United States aims to further restrict the flow of money to Hamas following its attacks on Israel.
Brian Nelson, the Treasury Department’s under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, will join a meeting of the Terrorist Financing Targeting Center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Mr. Nelson also plans to travel to Qatar to meet with senior officials in Doha to discuss additional efforts to disrupt funds used by terrorist groups.
The trip comes days after the Treasury Department announced new sanctions targeting Hamas members and financiers who have helped the group move money around its network.
As part of that effort, the Biden administration imposed sanctions on Hamas’s secret investment portfolio, which the group uses to obscure who controls its assets, and a virtual currency exchange that Hamas has used to raise and transfer funds.
- Europe Erupts Over Rising Fuel Prices as Cities Battles Soaring Cost of Living and Economic Hardship
Rising fuel prices, soaring household expenses and dissatisfaction with public… - Niger Republic Bans Petrol, Diesel Exports as Fuel Shortages Deepen, Prioritises Local Consumers
The Republic of Niger has prohibited the export of premium…
Mr. Nelson’s participation in the Terrorist Financing Targeting Center is notable in part because it is only the second time that he has joined one of its meetings since Biden administration took office.
The center, which was a priority of the Trump administration, was established in 2017 and is led by the United States and Saudi Arabia. It is a multilateral effort that aims to disrupt terrorist financing networks.
Other participants include Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and United Arab Emirates.
The meeting had been previously scheduled for November 6 but was moved forward because of the Israeli-Hamas war.
Mr. Nelson is expected to use the meeting to emphasize the importance of stopping Hamas and other terrorist groups from raising and moving around funds that enable their violent acts. He will also be discussing how to ensure that sanctions do not interfere with humanitarian aid reaching Gaza, according to the Treasury Department.
The United States is also considering how to proceed with its sanctions on Iran.
Last week, the Biden administration and the Qatari government agreed to deny Iran access to $6 billion of previously frozen Iranian funds that were moved from South Korea to Qatar as part of a U.S.-Iran deal that led to the release of five Americans imprisoned in Iran last month.
The transferred money had been placed under close supervision and strict conditions that it be used only for humanitarian purposes. U.S. officials did not describe the money as frozen permanently but said that case-by-case applications for Iran to spend it under the deal would be denied for the foreseeable future.
Mr. Nelson said earlier this week that the United States would be ramping up its efforts to work with allies and the private sector to stop the financial flows that allow terrorist groups to operate.
“Treasury will bring our tools to bear against Hamas’s financing and the overall funding of terrorism,” Mr. Nelson said. “But in order to be effective, it must be a collective effort by the U.S. government, our partners and allies, and the private sector.”
