The US dollar and Treasury securities are at the center of the international finance system.
Taking the name from the Italian town where Saturday's meeting was held, the ministers adopted what they called the Lecce Framework, identifying areas where they hope to achieve consensus on improving regulation of the international finance system.
First, their assets should be exposed, as happened recently in France; their access to the international finance system should be blocked; and in the best-case scenario, their money returned to the countries from which it came.
The US treasury department also has powerful sway over the international finance system, making it difficult for money to flow to and from Iran and crimping even deals that are legal under the current sanctions regime.
"In the event of a default, the US economy could be plunged into a recession worse than any seen since the great depression". The US dollar and Treasury securities are at the center of the international finance system.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin was testifying before the committee about the state of the international finance system when Waters, the committee's ranking Democrat, asked why his office had not responded to a letter from her regarding President Trump's financial ties to Russia.
Next, Rice told the audience that the international community is continuing to put the squeeze on Iran, having basically cut it off from the international finance system.
"Iran's economy remains isolated from the international finance system and cut off from the vast majority of its foreign currency reserves," she said.
It is, to all intents and purposes, nationalizing large parts of the international finance system, assuming ownership over millions of mortgages, and becoming an insurer of last resort for the global banking, credit, insurance, and investment systems.
Treasury Department spokeswoman Dawn Selak said in a statement late Tuesday that the cash payments were necessary because of the "effectiveness of U.S. and international sanctions," which isolated Iran from the international finance system.
