United States Imposes Sanctions on Smuggling Network Linked to Quds Force and Hezbollah

The Treasury said in a statement that the sanctions targeted 10 individuals, whom it said were part of a network responsible for transferring cash to Hezbollah through couriers using commercial flights between Lebanon, Turkey, and Iran, noting that the network had transferred amounts reaching hundreds of millions of dollars among these countries.

It pointed out that “Hezbollah and its allies use a range of financing mechanisms to generate and move funds throughout the region, including oil smuggling, illegal shipping, the sale of goods, and the smuggling of large quantities of cash.”

For its part, the U.S. State Department said in a statement that “the Iranian regime has used Hezbollah for decades to spread terror throughout the Middle East, and today the U.S. Treasury Department is re-designating Hezbollah due to its actions supporting Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force.”

The statement affirmed that “the United States will not hesitate to target Iran’s financial support networks, including those that enable Hezbollah to threaten peace, undermine the sovereignty of the Lebanese state, and endanger the security of our regional allies.”