US Treasury issues Hezbollah sanctions, labels group Iran-linked

The US government has classified Hezbollah as a foreign terrorist organization since 1997.

WASHINGTON — The Treasury Department on Thursday imposed new sanctions on a network it says has been funneling cash to Hezbollah and redesignated the Lebanese militant group to underscore its ties to Iran's Revolutionary Guard.

The US government has classified Hezbollah as a foreign terrorist organization since 1997. On Thursday, the Treasury amended its designation to underscore the group’s “service to the Iranian regime” under the command of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force.

It also designated 10 individuals accused of using couriers traveling on commercial flights between Lebanon, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Iran “to move up to hundreds of millions of dollars between jurisdictions, providing an avenue outside the formal financial system for Hezbollah to obtain foreign currency and evade sanctions.”

This is a developing story and will be updated.