Europe’s reluctance to take action allows Iranian funding for anti-Israel terrorism to continue undiminished, a top U.S. official said. “The major stumbling block – the one that looms larger than all the others combined – is that the Europeans won’t recognize Hezbollah as a terrorist organization,” Stuart Levey, the U.S. Treasury’s under secretary for terrorism financing, told the Senate Banking Committee on Wednesday. “Since Hezbollah is often the first stop for Iranian support for other terrorist organizations, that eliminates sort of our best opportunity to stop that external support for terrorism coming from Iran.”Iran sends more than $200 million a year to Hezbollah, based in Lebanon, Levey said, and is the principal funder for Islamic Jihad, which operates in the Gaza Strip. “With respect to Palestinian Islamic Jihad, they even condition their funding on attacks,” Levey said. The banking committee was considering ways to isolate Iran until it stops backing terrorism and agrees to greater transparency for a nuclear program that the West believes is geared toward making weapons.
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