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Why 'Operation Economic Outcast' against Iran is all about RUSSIA and CHINA · INSIGHT TODAY

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: All right. Thank you. We are watching market reaction after
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: the Treasury Secretary announces sanctions, very powerful sanctions on Iran.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: The Dow right now off of ties up 60 points,
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: but also looking at a drop in oil prices, a
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: pretty significant one, down a couple percent in today's session.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Let's bring our economic panel, Robert Wolf and Steve Moore.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: Welcome to both of you. Thank you for being here.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: First up, this is top five, guys. These are the
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: secondary sanctions announced by Besson just moments ago.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: Listen. We are giving everyone the opportunity to remedy bad behavior.
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: Why would I want to blow up the global financial system?
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: We believe that it is important to level set and
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: give people a cure period, but they should know that
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: that will move very quickly and that we are serious.
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: Secondary sanctions are a very powerful tool. If people do
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: not want to meet our expectations, then we expect and
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: they should expect that they will leave the dollar system.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: So they're going after Iran's connections, Steve, all over the world.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: They want Iran to face complete global isolation. From what
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: you just heard, will this work?
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: Well, the markets like it, don't they?
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: At least so far, it's good news that the oil
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: price fell when Scott Besson was talking about this. Look,
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: I think it can work. It depends a lot on
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: whether our allies follow our lead here. But I think
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  Speaker 3: they will. And listen, I like what Scott Besson said.
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: You have two options here. Either you're cooperative, you act
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  Speaker 3: like a civilized nation, or you're going to feel you're
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: going to be completely isolated economically. And that's exactly what
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: Trump and his team should be saying right now.
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: As always, when sanctions are announced, you ask the question,
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: can they enforce this? Right, Robert? This is the zero
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: leakage approach described by Secretary Besson a moment ago.
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: Treasury has mapped every node, every facilitator, and every network
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: that Iran has used to smuggle oil and evade sanctions.
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  Speaker 2: Beginning today, the actions of Treasury and other agencies will
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: tighten the noose and block every potential source of revenue
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: that funds the IRGC and the evil Iranian regime. We
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: are enforcing a zero leakage approach.
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: Your reaction, Robert?
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  Speaker 4: You know, Sandra, although I've been critical in their approach
• 2:30
  Speaker 4: with this Iran war, this I support fully because Iran's
• 2:35
  Speaker 4: already been hammered economically.
• 2:38
  Speaker 5: Inflation's up at 85%, 90%. But when you start going
• 2:42
  Speaker 5: after secondary sanctions, you're going after all their trading partners.
• 2:46
  Speaker 5: You're going after the way that they can find wiggle room. Unfortunately,
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  Speaker 5: in 2004, when I was at UBS— We circumvented secondary
• 2:55
  Speaker 5: sanctions on Iran, Libya, and Cuba. We had to pay
• 2:59
  Speaker 5: a big fine. I didn't become president of UBS until 2006,
• 3:01
  Speaker 5: so it's before I was running it. But listen, you
• 3:06
  Speaker 5: have to make sure there's zero wiggle room. What I
• 3:10
  Speaker 5: think Treasury Secretary Besset needs to do better is be
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  Speaker 5: clear to China and Chinese banks, who really is the
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  Speaker 5: key to all of this working, that they are going
• 3:21
  Speaker 5: to keep a tight, tight eye on them, and they're
• 3:25
  Speaker 5: gonna make sure that if there's any shenanigans going on,
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  Speaker 5: that they're going to pay the price. Because really, at
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  Speaker 5: the end of the day, this is all about China
• 3:33
  Speaker 5: and Russia, because Turkey and Pakistan and the other trading partners,
• 3:37
  Speaker 5: they're not going to do anything against the U.S. OK,
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  Speaker 5: but this is all about Russia and China. I think
• 3:41
  Speaker 5: he has to be firmer on that.
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Steve, that's a good point. This was the moment
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  Speaker 1: when Treasury Secretary Besant talked about exactly that and warned
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: any country that is foolish enough to help Iran. Listen here.
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: Any entity that facilitates money laundering on behalf of Iran
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: will be removed from the US dollar system. The clock
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: just started ticking. These measures broaden secondary sanctions risk for
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: anyone foolish enough to continue conducting business with this regime
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  Speaker 2: and will accelerate the speed with which we pursue them.
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: So Steve, this wasn't just a warning to Iran. This
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: was a message to the world.
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: Yeah, look, the friend of our enemy is our enemy.
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: And that's what what Secretary Besant is saying here. You know,
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: Robert is exactly right that one of the key players
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: here is China. And I was just looking at these
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  Speaker 3: statistics this morning, Sandra, you know, above 80 percent of
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: the oil that comes out of the Persian Gulf. And
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: through the Strait of Hormuz, you know where it goes?
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  Speaker 3: It goes to China, India, and Asia. So the reason
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  Speaker 3: I bring that up, Sandra, is it's in China's own
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  Speaker 3: economic interest to get this resolved so they can have
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: low energy prices. But, of course, we also know the
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: China government will do everything they can to try to
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: wreak havoc on the Trump administration.
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: Got it. Appreciate both of you joining us on the
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: breaking news that we got from the Treasury just moments ago.
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: Thank you both, Steve, Robert.