The Treasury Department tried to persuade other nations to target an Iranian bank involved in financing missile deals but ultimately took unilateral action because such nations lacked the necessary legal tools and "political will," Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. will disclose today in a speech on the department's worldwide campaign to target financial institutions connected to illicit activities.In the speech, to be delivered to the Council on Foreign Relations in New York this morning, Paulson will press other countries to pass laws that target terrorist financing and to implement sanctions already on the books.
"Everyone acknowledges that we must find effective ways to deal with these threats, short of military measures," he will say, according to a copy of his prepared remarks. "Yet other nations are not moving quickly enough to accomplish that goal."
Treasury officials have long been frustrated with how difficult it is to persuade other countries to take the lead in acting against suspected entities. Paulson's remarks appear intended to spotlight both the U.S. campaign and the lagging efforts of the rest of the world.
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