Obama’s sanctions czar admitted Wednesday that Iran would continue to fund terrorist proxies like Hezbollah under the nuclear deal.
Administration officials like Secretary of State John Kerry and Secretary of Treasury Jack Lew have downplayed the possibility that Iran could use sanctions relief cash to fund terrorism, saying that much of that money would be earmarked for debt relief and domestic projects.
Adam Szubin, the undersecretary of Treasury for terrorism and financial crimes, was more candid about the most likely use of sanctions relief money.
"Unfortunately I do expect to continue to see Iran funding Hezbollah and its other violent terrorist proxies," Szubin told the Senate Banking Committee.
Szubin praised the U.S. sanctions regime for bringing the Iranian economy to its knees.
"Thanks to those congressional sanctions, our sanctions against Iran’s proxies carry this international weigh and designated entities become pariahs worldwide," Szubin said.
Szubin said that "it is incumbent" on the U.S. "to do more" through sanctions to stop Iran’s financing of terrorism—although the president’s nuclear deal lifts many sanctions on Iran and allows its banned banks back into the global financial system.
The State Department has designated Iran as the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism. It spends roughly $200 million a year arming Hezbollah, the Lebanese terrorist group that seeks to destroy Israel.
Iran also spends up to $15 billion every year to prop up Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian dictator who has used weapons of mass destruction against civilians.