Treasury Notes

Continuing Treasury's global engagement to protect the international financial system from abuse by Iran, I met this week with senior government officials and private sector leaders in Ankara and Istanbul, Turkey and Paris, France. My discussions focused on global efforts to impose sanctions against Iran for its continued defiance of the international community's demands that it abide by international non-proliferation obligations.
 
For more than two years, Iran has repeatedly failed to respond meaningfully to offers of engagement by the United States and the international community and has continued to violate multiple United Nations Security Council Resolutions.
 
While the offer of engagement still stands, the international community has been forced to impose additional and broader sanctions against Iran to sharpen the choice for Iran's leadership between integration with the international community, predicated on Iran fulfilling its international obligations, and the hardship of further isolation.
 
Turkey's position as a neighbor of Iran and a leader in the region makes its full implementation of UN sanctions and additional measures taken to isolate Iran critical to ensuring the effectiveness of the multilateral regime designed to prevent Iran from establishing new financial and economic footholds to facilitate its nuclear weapons and missile proliferation activities.
 
We know that Iran's inability to access the international financial system and attract foreign investment to develop its oil and gas fields is causing its leadership great concern. We also know that as its isolation deepens, Iran will seek to develop new and existing financial andeconomic relationships to facilitate its illicit activities.
 
Turkey's financial sector is working to protect itself from the threat posed by Iran's illicit activities.  I've urged the Turkish government to assist Turkish banks in protecting themselves from Iran's attempts to exploit and abuse its existing trade and financial relationships with Turkey to support its proliferation activities.
 
We believe that this is an area where the United States' and Turkey's interests are entirely aligned.
 
Iran has a long track record of engaging in deceptive conduct to mask the true nature of its financial activities. And this poses not only a major risk to the reputation of Turkey's financial sector, but it also presents a proliferation risk to the region.
 
Just last month Turkey interdicted a cache of weapons Iran was attempting to export to Syria in breach of a U.N. arms embargo. Turkish officials understand the proliferation risk posed by Iran, and I have encouraged Turkey's leadership to continue to take action against any Iranian attempt to violate UN sanctions.
 
Turkey is an important and strategic partner of the United States and my visit this week builds on the broad and ongoing dialogue between our two nations.
 
Until Iran agrees to abide by its international obligations by coming clean about its nuclear program, its isolation from the international community will continue and the pressure on Iran will increase. Next, I took this message to Paris, France where I also emphasized that international cooperation on this front will prove to be incredibly important in maintaining maximum pressure on Iran to influence its strategic decision-making calculus.

David S. Cohen is Acting Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.