The case for designating Iran-linked crime networks as FTOs

In February 2025, US President Donald Trump designated a series of cartels as Specially Designated Global Terrorists and Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs), including Tren de Aragua (TdA) and Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), among others. Previously, the US Treasury Department sanctioned MS-13 as a Transnational Criminal Organization under Executive Order 13581. The Trump administration similarly designated Foxtrot, which has been used by Iranian intelligence, under the same authority last month. This should lay the groundwork for Washington to respond to an increasingly aggressive Iran, which has rallied more extraterritorial operations in both the United States and Europe, using a network of criminal gangs. . . . Washington and its allies should capitalize on the momentum from the Trump administration’s increased designations and begin sanctioning these criminal networks as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs).