“Iran right now is feeling a tremendous sense of isolation from the financial sector, from the banking sector in particular,” Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence at the Treasury Department, Stuart Levey, said in an interview with Charlie Rose. The interview aired on the PBS channel on Thursday.
Mr. Levey said, the Iranian regime’s “economy is a lot worse than they try to present it as being.”
The sanctions are “having a much more dramatic impact than anyone expected,” he said. “It surprised the Iranians. … They underestimated the U.N. Security Council Resolution, they underestimated what the European Union would do, they underestimated what the private sector would do, they underestimated what other countries around the world that they thought were going to stand with them were going to do.”
Mr. Levey added, “If a country that we’re targeting like Iran in this case can’t get access to financial services from banks around the world then that has a dramatic ripple affect across a whole commercial sector. And that is exactly the effect that we’re seeing now.”
Levey singled out the mullahs’ suppressive organ, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which is responsible for the regime’s nuclear and missile programs as well as export of terrorism, and said although the regime is left with no other option but to hand over large economic projects to the IRGC, “The IRGC doesn’t have the ability to do most of these projects itself.”
He added, “They then try to outsource and subcontract to companies outside of Iran who won’t do business with the IRGC anymore.”
Mr. Levey also pointed out that the regime’s international isolation is not only because of its insistence on carrying out its nuclear weapons program, but also for its sustained and broad support for international terrorism.
“This is not just about their nuclear program. This is the country that is by far the leading state sponsor of terrorism in the world,” he said.