Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced sanctions against three organizations and two individuals tied to far-left extremist networks, vowing that his department will use its “full weight” of economic tools to eliminate their funding sources.
‘Political Terrorism Has No Place in Our Society’
In a post on X, he called political violence a form of “political terrorism” that has no place in society, and said the department would keep severing these groups’ funding sources until they are eliminated entirely.
The Groups Targeted
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned Italy-based Autistici/Inventati, which it said supplies digital infrastructure and encrypted communications to Antifa cells, along with the U.K.-based group Palestine Action and the transnational group Masar Badil, which the department says operates as a front for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
Two Masar Badil leaders, Zaid Abdulnasser and Rawa Alsagheer, were also individually sanctioned.
The sanctions block all property the groups hold in the U.S. and bar Americans from transacting with them.
The Broader Crackdown
Last week, Bessent warned that any country maintaining financial ties to Iran would face severe consequences, as part of an economic campaign he called an “economic D-Day.”
In July, Treasury pledged to disrupt political terrorism financing when the U.S. designated four Antifa-linked groups abroad as foreign terrorist organizations.
The 2026 U.S. Counterterrorism Strategy lists violent far-left groups as one of three major terrorist threats facing the country.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio sanctioned the United Nations Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese in July 2025, accusing her of engaging with the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate, arrest or prosecute U.S. or Israeli nationals without either country’s consent.
Earlier this month, the U.S. sanctioned ICC President Tomoko Akane over similar allegations tied to the court’s jurisdiction, a move the ICC called “a flagrant attack” on its independence.
The UK designated Palestine Action a terrorist organization in 2025, a decision that remains tied up in ongoing legal challenges before British courts.
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
Image via Shutterstock/ Maxim Elramsisy
