The Trump administration has imposed fresh sanctions on Hezbollah and redesignated the group as an Iranian proxy. The US Treasury Department announced sanctions on 10 individuals alleged to be part of a network responsible for transferring cash to Hezbollah.

 

According to the Treasury Department, the network used couriers travelling 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 redesignation is aimed at highlighting that Hezbollah operates on behalf of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and is not a stand-alone operation. This formally recognises that Hizballah’s military operations, external security activities, and major financing networks function as an extension of IRGC, Iran’s primary instrument for conducting terrorism beyond its borders. 

 

Both Hezbollah and the IRGC have long been designated as specially designated global terrorists by the United States. Hezbollah is a Lebanese political party as well as an armed group. The latest move comes as the Trump administration has been working to facilitate peace talks between Israel and Lebanon.