U.S.: Islamic State Making $1 Million A Day From Oil Before Airstrikes

A top U.S. official recently that prior to U.S.-led airstrikes that began a month ago, the Islamic State was making $1 million a day through oil sales.

According to Treasury Department Undersecretary David S. Cohen, the terrorist organization was using oil fields it owned in Iraq and Syria and selling the product to middlemen in Turkey, as well as Iraqi Kurds and the Syrian government.

As The Washington Post reports, Cohen recently said that unlike other terrorist organizations, the Islamic State has been able to make most of its income without the help of donors in Arabic countries, making it more powerful and financially independent.

Additionally, Cohen said that the Islamic State does not "depend principally on moving money across international borders," and therefore it is more difficult for the U.S. to stop its flow of funds from country to country.

"As with the rest of the campaign against ISIL, our efforts to combat its financing will take time," he continued, adding "We have no silver bullet, no secret weapon to empty ISIL's coffers overnight."

According to Reuters, on Thursday the U.S. issued a warning of possible sanctions on buyers of Islamic State oil. The Obama administration followed up on the claim that the terrorist organization makes $1 million a day from its oil production and sales.

"With the important exception of some state-sponsored terrorist organizations, ISIL is probably the best-funded terrorist organization we have confronted," Cohen added, while speaking at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.