TEHRAN (FNA)- There is a reason why ISIL appears to be the richest terrorist organization in the world. There are not enough efforts in the West to squeeze the terrorist group financially and/or halt its brutal rampage.

Western media outlets are right to say ISIL is not a state and that it lacks traditional economic relationships. But they are dead wrong to assume that the terrorist group only generates the vast majority of its revenue from within the territory it controls – a territory that is now in ruins.

The sources of ISIL are fully understood. It’s just that no one in the West – or in corporate media – has any desire to undermine and criticise its Arab finances, and/or block its indirect use of banks and financial exchanges in the Persian Gulf. The US administration trained and equipped ISIL fighters for years, and the group doesn’t have to raise funds to buy weapons and other supplies. It gets them for free, mainly from Saudi Arabia, Emirates, and Qatar.

How is it possible for the ISIL-controlled territories, which are now almost uninhabited and completely bankrupt, to provide the necessary funds for the terrorist group? It just doesn’t make sense. Had there been any money or job in these territories, millions of Iraqi and Syrian refugees would have never risked their lives to reach Europe via the Mediterranean Sea.

Speaking of refugees, Germany alone expects as many as a million refugees by the end of this year, with hundreds of thousands coming from Syria and Iraq. As Fortress Europe would like to suggest, these “economic migrants” are going to all lengths to get a foothold in the Western Europe. So back home these “pitiable homeless asylum seekers” have nothing, let alone a decent job/business to pay the ISIL tax collectors.

Despite the charade, the United States will never lead an international effort to disrupt trade routes, cut access to the international financial system, and impose sanctions on ISIL or the Arab regimes which assist them. ISIL – America’s own creation – doesn’t need revenue and the ability to spend that money in world markets for military equipment and other supplies like oil production gear. The sight of border oil trade, functioning pipelines and refineries, as well as brand-name vehicles and military equipment in the ISIL convoys is a sure sign that something is indeed “awry”.

According to David Cohen, former US Treasury undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, “ISIL does not have the money to meet its costs.” True, there is some extortion money and oil revenues to be had. But that’s all really. It’s never enough to run the richest terrorist organization in the world.

Lest there be any doubt. it’s the American-Arab masters that manage the terrorist group’s bank account; control a huge swath of territory with millions of people; have drawn thousands of recruits from Europe and elsewhere; are waging war against sovereign states in the Middle East; and spend hundreds of millions of dollars to affect regime change in Damascus. Their loyal vassal, ISIL, is both materially and spiritually poor.