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Fresh Hezbollah sanctions
The Trump administration imposed fresh sanctions on Hezbollah and redesignated the group as an Iranian proxy, with the U.S. Treasury Department announcing sanctions on 10 individuals alleged to be part of a network responsible for transferring cash to Hezbollah.
“for service to the Iranian regime under the command of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force”
Reuters said the Treasury redesignated Hezbollah “for service to the Iranian regime under the command of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force,” and a U.S. official told Reuters the redesignation was intended to show Hezbollah is acting on behalf of the Iranian government.
The Treasury Department said the network used couriers traveling on commercial airline flights between Lebanon, Turkiye, the UAE and Iran to move large amounts of money across jurisdictions, providing an avenue outside the formal financial system for Hizballah to obtain foreign currency and evade sanctions.
The U.S. official also said Thursday’s move was not part of new actions the U.S. has vowed it will take against Iran, as President Donald Trump looks to resolve a war he began alongside Israel nearly six months ago.
ANI reported the redesignation was aimed at highlighting that Hezbollah operates on behalf of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF) and is “not a stand-alone operation,” CNN reported, quoting a U.S. State Department official.
Officials frame the rationale
A U.S. official told Reuters that the redesignation was intended to show that Hezbollah is acting on behalf of the Iranian government, specifically Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force.
The National quoted a State Department official saying, “This re-designation specifies that Hezbollah is an Iranian proxy, not a stand-alone operation as implied by the previous designation,” while also adding that Hezbollah is “not a Lebanese resistance movement”.
Ynetnews said Reuters reported the U.S. redesignated Hezbollah as a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist” because of its “for service to the Iranian regime under the command of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force,” and noted Hezbollah also faces U.S. sanctions under a separate designation as a “Foreign Terrorist Organization.”
Middle East Eye described the Treasury Department re-designating Hezbollah as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist “for service to the Iranian regime under the command of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force,” while stating Hezbollah is not being designated under any new authority.
ThePrint, citing Reuters, said the U.S. official described the redesignation as intended to show Hezbollah is acting on behalf of the Iranian government and update the public record to link the designation to Hezbollah’s actions on behalf of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force.
Money channels and next steps
The U.S. Treasury Department said the sanctions targeted a network that used couriers on commercial flights between Lebanon, Turkey, the UAE and Iran to move up to hundreds of millions of dollars between jurisdictions, providing an avenue outside the formal financial system for Hizballah to obtain foreign currency and evade sanctions.
“The objective of this operation was to form a channel outside the formal financial system”
LA17 said the objective of the operation was to form a channel outside the formal financial system so that Hizballáh could obtain foreign currency and evade existing sanctions, and it described the action as carried out by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
Europa Press reported the individuals sanctioned by OFAC included a Turkish national identified as Yunus Alper Yilmaz and nine associates, and it said the network “uses couriers who travel on commercial flights between Lebanon, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Iran to move hundreds of millions of dollars across jurisdictions.”
Contrapunto added that the U.S. government said Turkish businessman Yunus Yilmaz led the network of couriers, while nine other sanctioned individuals participated in logistics for delivering the money, and it said the listed individuals are blocked under U.S. jurisdiction and U.S. persons and entities are prohibited from transacting with them.
Reuters reported that U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said earlier on Thursday he would hold a press conference on Monday about “the toughest sanctions in history” that Washington plans to impose on Iran.
