On December 28, the US Treasury designated the Turkish company Al-Aman Shipping for financing arms transactions for the Houthi rebels on behalf of the IRGC-QF.

In the same classification, Treasury Department officials also imposed sanctions on a number of currency exchange offices located in Turkey and Yemen for their role in transferring millions of dollars to the Revolutionary Guard's Quds Force.

Aman was established in Turkey in 2014, after Erdogan’s decision to end all investigations in Turkey that focused on eliminating people and entities working for the Revolutionary Guard.

This was not just a decision to stop the investigation. Worse still: Erdogan went after the IRGC's law enforcement and prosecutorial team in what can only be described as an audacious effort to allow Turkey to become a permissive environment for the IRGC's fundraising and arms procurement activities.

Since the October 7 attacks against Israel, much of the international focus on Turkey has focused on its sponsorship of Hamas. Türkiye, along with Qatar and Iran, provides the terrorist entity with safe haven and material support. What is less widely acknowledged and publicized is Ankara's emerging support for the Iran-backed Houthi rebels, a capable terrorist entity that threatens civilian shipping routes in the Red Sea, as well as military engagement and killing of US service members.

With an emerging record of active support for terrorist promoters, Turkey deserves to be placed on the State Department's list of “terrorist sanctuary” countries. Instead, what we see is a continued and desperate attempt by the Biden administration to explore ways in which we can reward Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and pursue ways to “reset” bilateral relations between the United States and Turkey.

There is one enduring reason why many US administrations continue to embrace Erdogan no matter what he does, including support for major terrorist causes: it is based on the pathological US fear of “losing Turkey” just as it lost Iran in 1979. The best way to look at our relationship with Ankara is to ask: What is there left to lose?