Sanctions Against Hezbollah’s Leadership Have Been Imposed By The United States And Gulf Arab States

A combined announcement of sanctions against senior Islamic State or Al-Qaeda officials in Yemen was made by the organisation in October last year.

WASHINGTON: The United Counties & 6 Gulf Arab states declared sanctions against Hezbollah’s leadership today, as part of a broader effort by Washington to increase economic sanctions on Iran as well as its allies throughout the region. Read The White House Says The Us Government Is “Getting Ready” For Another Shutdown.

It was announced that Hezbollah’s Shura Council, a strong Lebanese militia’s ruling council, chaired by the group’s secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah, would be targeted by sanctions imposed by the United States and Saudi Arabia-led Terrorist Financing and Targeting Center.

Nasrallah, Hezbollah ’s Deputy Naim Qasim, & three other members of the Shura Council were included on the list of persons targeted by the combined sanctions, which aim to freeze the assets of those designated and prevent them from accessing international financial networks.

Meanwhile, the 6 Gulf members of a Transnational Threats and Terrorism Coordinating Council (TFTC) – Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and also the UAE – announced sanctions against an extra 9 individuals and firms affiliated with it or connected to Hezbollah already on the US Treasury’s blacklist.

It was the 2nd visit in a year that the year-old TFTC got together to declare penalties against groups that they deemed a danger to regional stability.

In October, the organisation announced combined sanctions against senior Islamic State or Al-Qaeda officials operating in Yemen, among other places.

“The TFTC has once again proved its significant contribution to world security by interfering with Iran & Hezbollah’s destabilising regional influence,” stated US Secretary Of the treasury Steve Mnuchin in such a press release.

We have unanimously rejected the false difference between Hezbollah’s as such ‘Political Wing’ and also the terrorist plotting that takes place on a worldwide scale by targeting the Shura Council, which was targeted by our nations.” 10 days before, Hezbollah had made an impressive performance in Lebanon’s elections, winning sufficient seats in parliament to prevent any effort by its political adversaries to force the group’s militia, which is comparable in size and firepower to the Lebanese army, from disarming.

Announcing the sanctions follows two other moves by the United States in the past week to place pressure on Iran’s financial institutions, such as sanctions announced yesterday against an allegations of financial pipeline which relocated “hundreds of millions” from Iran’s central bank thru an Iraqi bank and on to Hezbollah.

Treasury said today’s steps are part of an attempt to target “the entirety of Iran’s destructive activities or regionally destabilising behaviour,” which includes Hezbollah. The Treasury’s moves follow the Trump administration’s withdrawal from Iran nuclear deal on May 8.