The United States’ Operation Economic Outcast, designed to sever the economic lifelines sustaining the Iranian regime, is falling short of its full potential without greater coordination with international partners, according to a new assessment published earlier this week by two experts from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
According to Michael Jacobson, the Mark and Wayne Levy Senior Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, and Matthew Levitt, the Fromer-Wexler Senior Fellow and director of the institute’s Reinhard Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence, closer coordination with allies on sanctions would strengthen Washington’s efforts to undermine the Iranian regime alongside the ongoing blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
Criticizing Washington for relying on targeted, limited diplomatic efforts to address Iran-linked terrorism, they argued that the results achieved so far have demonstrated the value of a more international approach.
On October 12, the US and 29 other governments issued a statement accusing Iran of orchestrating plots to destroy US air assets at RAF Fairford in the UK, following a similar statement a week earlier in which the US and eight countries in the Western Hemisphere condemned Iran’s terrorist and malign activities in the region.
In June, the US State Department and more than 20 other governments also accused Iran of being behind a series of attacks in Europe, North America, and Australia.
Jacobson and Levitt said some governments had initially been hesitant to condemn Iranian plots, including those on their own soil, because of concerns about Iranian retaliation and the fate of their nationals wrongfully detained in Iranian prisons, but they eventually did so with American support.
US sanctions against Iran-backed groups require stronger enforcement capabilities, experts warn
Washington’s efforts had also helped multiple countries in Central and South America designate or sanction the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Hezbollah, and Hamas in recent years, they wrote, adding that such measures carry symbolic weight while giving governments additional tools to counter the groups’ activities.
They cautioned that designations and sanctions must be backed by the material capabilities, skills, and knowledge needed to address the complex Iranian threat, including its sophisticated financial schemes, if they are to translate into meaningful action against the regime.
The Trump administration could use foreign assistance funding to advance these efforts, Jacobson and Levitt wrote, adding that Congress has already allocated almost $300 million to the State Department this fiscal year to strengthen partners’ counterterrorism capabilities.
Although the State Department has publicly committed some of that funding to addressing cartel and gang threats in Central America, similar support could also help countries counter Iran’s malign activities, they said.
US experts urge funding to disrupt Iranian smuggling and terror financing networks
The funding could be directed toward programs to train and equip Syrian border-security authorities to intercept Iranian and Hezbollah smuggling operations, including bulk cash transfers; help Yemeni Coast Guard officials detect and disrupt Houthi weapons and procurement networks; and improve Iraqi financial institutions’ ability to identify illicit Iranian financing schemes, Jacobson and Levitt wrote.
Other initiatives could strengthen efforts by authorities in West Africa and South America to uncover and prosecute Hezbollah’s illicit financial networks, they added.