US maintains pressure on Iran with Hizbollah designations
The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (‘OFAC’) has imposed sanctions on four individuals it states led Lebanon-based Hizbollah’s operational, intelligence and financial operations in Iraq.
Adnan Hussein Kawtharani, Shibl Muhsin ‘Ubayd Al-Zaydi, Yusuf Hashim and Muhammad ‘Abd-Al-Hadi Farhat have been designated as specially designated global terrorists (‘SDGTs’) under Executive Order 13224, which targets terrorists and those providing support to terrorism.
According to OFAC, Kawtharani is a major fundraiser for the group, and Al-Zaydi acts as a financial coordinator between Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force (‘IRGC-QF’) and militia in Iraq.
In a separate but co-ordinated action, the US Department of State added Jawad Nasrallah, son of the group’s leader Hassan Nasrallah, and the al-Mujahidin Brigades, a militia operating in Palestine with alleged financial and military links to Hizbollah.
The designations maintain the pressure on Iran following the snap-back of nuclear-related sanctions on 5 November. Over 700 individuals, entities, aircraft, and vessels were sanctioned by OFAC in a single day.
In October, the US increased its sanctions powers through the enactment of the Hizballah International Financing Prevention Amendments Act, which targets Hizballah’s financial networks – and exposes any foreign bank worldwide which facilitates Hizballah funding to potential US sanctions.
‘Treasury’s actions today again highlight the degree to which Hizballah operates as a clandestine, terrorist arm of the Iranian regime,’ said OFAC.
Executive Order 13224 can be found here:
https://www.state.gov/j/ct/rls/other/des/122570.htm
OFAC’s Notice can be found here:
www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/OFAC-Enforcement/Pages/20181113.aspx
US Treasury’s press release can be found here:
https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm546
The Hizballah International Financing Prevention Amendments Act 2018 can be found here:
https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/1595/text
The US Department of State’s press release can be found here:
https://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2018/11/287318.htm
