Ruslan Trad

“underscores that SSOT status functions as much as a lever of bilateral relations and strategic signalling as a counterterrorism assessment”

Ruslan Trad · said date not stated · reported 2026-08-26

Trad said the Trump administration's embrace of al-Sharaa underscores that SSOT status functions as much as a lever of bilateral relations and strategic signalling as a counterterrorism assessment.

“For Cuba, Iran, and North Korea, the absence of that same relief means continued isolation from mainstream global finance, even where the original rationale for designation [state support for terrorism] is, in Cuba’s case especially, widely contested as outdated,”

Ruslan Trad · said date not stated · reported 2026-08-26

Trad told Al Jazeera that the absence of relief for Cuba, Iran, and North Korea means continued isolation from mainstream global finance, even where the original rationale for designation is widely contested as outdated.

“That political logic cuts both ways for those still listed. So, as a practical upshot, the SSOT list functions less as an objective terrorism registry and more as a foreign-policy pressure valve,”

Ruslan Trad · said date not stated · reported 2026-08-26

Trad told Al Jazeera that the SSOT list functions less as an objective terrorism registry and more as a foreign-policy pressure valve.