Trump administration imposes new Hezbollah sanctions, redesignates group as Iranian proxy

Donald Trump. Pic/AFP

The Trump administration on Thursday (local time) imposed new sanctions on Hezbollah and redesignated the group as an Iranian proxy, CNN reported. 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.

"The network utilizes couriers travelling on commercial airline flights between Lebanon, Turkiye, 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 Treasury said in a statement.

The redesignation is 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 US State Department official.

"This determination formally recognises that Hizballah's military operations, external security activities, and major financing networks function as an extension of the IRGC-QF, Iran's primary instrument for conducting terrorism beyond its borders. It is not a Lebanese resistance movement," the official said, according to CNN.

Both Hezbollah and the IRGC-QF 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, CNN reported.

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