New York: The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has imposed sanctions on 10 persons accused of being part of a network involved in moving cash to Hezbollah.
According to the Treasury Department, the network uses couriers travelling on commercial flights between Lebanon, Türkiye, the UAE and Iran to transfer as much as hundreds of millions of dollars across jurisdictions.
US authorities alleged that the cash transfers provide Hezbollah with access to foreign currency outside the formal financial system and help the group circumvent sanctions.
OFAC also announced the redesignation of Hezbollah for its alleged service to the Iranian regime under the command of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force (IRGC-QF).
The action was taken under Executive Order 13224, the US counterterrorism authority used to target individuals and entities linked to terrorism.
The Treasury Department said Hezbollah and its associates use a range of financial schemes to generate and move funds, including oil smuggling, illicit shipping, commodity trading and bulk cash transfers across the region.
According to OFAC, the network targeted in the latest action was previously associated with Behnam Shahriyari, a now-deceased IRGC-QF financial official.
US authorities said the network was among the mechanisms used to channel financial support to Iranian-backed groups across the region.
