Treasury to Work Harder to Block ISIS Money

The U.S. Treasury has said it will "intensify our efforts to undermine" the financial position of the Islamic State (ISIS).

The department announced its renewed initiative just hours before the president addressed the nation Wednesday on his strategy to tackle the militant group, The Hill reported.

"We at the Treasury Department are hard at work to undermine ISIL's financial foundation, as part of the broader strategy to degrade, dismantle and ultimately defeat this terrorist organization that the President will outline tonight," David Cohen, under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, wrote on the Treasury's website.

Cohen said the Treasury had been long working to impose sanctions on members of the group as well as those providing financial support to it, but noted that funds flowing from Syria and Iraq are outside the reach of the United States, as are resources obtained illegally.

The effort also includes disrupting the flow of financial sources to ISIS and limiting the group's access to the international banking system.

ISIS "benefits from sales of Iraqi and Syrian oil," he said, and the administration is working with international allies to disrupt "each of these sources of financing."


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