Escalating pressure on Damascus should be an integral part of the U.S. maximum pressure campaign against Iran, since Tehran is heavily invested in Assad and will spend scarce resources in the hopes of saving him.
The loss of access to Iranian oil would likely do tremendous damage to Assad’s finances and military capacity. The U.S. should apply such pressure swiftly in order to weaken Assad and raise the cost to Tehran of propping up his regime.
experimenting with them more frequently. By preparing now for terrorists’ increasing usage of cryptocurrencies, the U.S. can limit the ability to turn digital currency markets into a sanctuary for illicit finance. I will conclude my testimony today with specific recommendations for how the federal government and the private sector can address this challenge.
Terrorists and their sponsoring regimes must be held accountable for their brutal practice of using civilians as human shields. Doing so would save civilian lives and give democracies the freedom to fight without both hands tied behind their backs.