LARRY KUDLOW: Banking, sanctions, and the ultimate Iranian financial squeeze
Last week Treasurer Man Scott Bessent launched Operation Economic Fury to put more financial pressure on the hoodlums who run the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. I would like to give that economic frenzy some more visibility, because I think blocking the ports of Iran, which will keep the regime without money, and freezing the bank, are two major weapons that will eventually bring the regime to an end.
We know that Iranian ports are being successfully blockaded, and it won’t be long until the revenue dries up, and the IRGC, which is a government cartel mafioso business, won’t even be able to make payments in the next few weeks and their retirement plans will be disrupted. A loss of more than 400 million per day can really hurt a company. Let’s move on. These mobsters all have bank accounts abroad with money that they have looted and robbed Iranian citizens. Billions and billions of dollars are undoubtedly at stake.
Fox News contributor Newt Gingrich discusses the United States’ strategy to increase economic pressure on the Iranian government on ‘Kudlow.’
I say these Iranian bank accounts should be confiscated. Places like Turkey, UAE, Qatar, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, and I’m sure many others, should give Iranian deposits, then they can be put in a special war account in the Ministry of Finance. You might say that freezing goods is enough, but I don’t think so. The real catch is wide. And any of these countries that refuse to comply with Operation Economic Fury will be subject to secondary sanctions and taxes.
For example, that means that any transactions of these foreign banks with America and hopefully their partners, will be removed from the international Swift ledger system, and will no longer be eligible to carry out financial operations governed by the New York Fed’s lines in the United States. This will increase the financial pressure on the Iranian government. They have been stealing money and looting the Iranian treasury for decades.
I’m sure they tried to split their international positions. And they haven’t got it for a long time because they own all these businesses in Iran. And it is one of the reasons why they are holding on to power against all odds of losing this war to America and Israel.
Ret. US Navy SEAL Mike Sarraille discusses the possibility of the US Navy removing Iranian mines from the Strait of Hormuz and the impact of the blockade on ‘Kudlow.’
Here is one of the important points Mr. Bessent made: “One of the potentially fatal mistakes the Iranians made was bombing” their “neighbors” in the Gulf Cooperation Council, “and now they are willing to be more transparent financially.”
And it’s not just the oil money, it’s the non-oil businesses that the IRGC criminals have taken over the years.
Mr. Besent suggested a freeze, but obviously I think the vibration is too strong, and I think the second sanction is still too strong.
Banking, sanctions, and the ultimate Iranian financial squeeze. We are coming to the end.
