ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iran on Friday condemned as “illegal” the latest US sanctions imposed on its ambassador to Lebanon, as well as eight Lebanese individuals, including lawmakers from the Tehran-backed Hezbollah movement, whom the US accuses of “obstructing the peace process” between Lebanon and Israel and “impeding efforts” to disarm Hezbollah.
“Iran strongly condemns the illegal and illegitimate action of the U.S. Department of the Treasury in sanctioning Mohammad Reza Raouf Sheibani, the designated ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Beirut,” Tehran’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
Tehran further deplored Washington’s sanctioning of “a number of Hezbollah representatives in the Lebanese Parliament, officials from the [Hezbollah-allied] Amal Movement, and several Lebanese military and security officials,” describing the measures as “absurd actions” aimed at undermining Lebanon’s sovereignty and reflective of Washington’s “complicity” with Israel in its “military aggression and heinous crimes against Lebanon.”
A day earlier, the US Treasury Department said in a statement that its Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) “designated nine individuals in Lebanon for obstructing the peace process in Lebanon and impeding the disarmament of Hizballah [Hezbollah],” under counterterrorism authority Executive Order 13224.
The latter order authorizes Washington to disrupt financial networks by blocking the assets of, and prohibiting transactions with, foreign individuals and entities it believes are involved in committing, threatening, or supporting terrorism.
In addition to Iranian Ambassador Sheibani, the sanctioned individuals include Hezbollah members of parliament Hassan Fadlallah, Hussein Haj Hassan, Ibrahim al-Moussawi, and Mohammed Fneish. The Treasury also sanctioned Ahmad Baalbaki and Ali Safawi, whom it describes as officials from Hezbollah’s political ally in Lebanon, the Amal Movement, led by Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.
The two remaining individuals are Brigadier General Khattar Nasser al-Din and Colonel Samir Hamadi, officials from Lebanon’s General Security and Army Intelligence services respectively, whom the Treasury says are involved in providing intelligence to Hezbollah during the ongoing war with Israel.
These sanctioned officials are “embedded across Lebanon’s parliament, military, and security sectors,” where they seek to preserve Hezbollah’s “influence over key Lebanese state institutions,” the Treasury said in its Thursday statement.
The US and Israel launched a large-scale aerial campaign against Iran in late February, striking thousands of targets across the country during six weeks of hostilities.
In response, Iran carried out thousands of drone and missile strikes across the Middle East, targeting alleged US assets - particularly in Gulf Arab states - as well as launching retaliatory attacks against Israel.
The Iranian response has also included strikes by factions aligned with the Iran-led ‘Axis of Resistance’, including Hezbollah, which in early March launched an initial attack on northern Israel that was followed by hundreds of Israeli air raids on what it said were targets across Lebanon. The two sides have since been at war.
Simultaneously, US-brokered peace talks between Israel and Lebanon opened in Washington in mid-April, marking the first high-level contact between the two countries since 1993 and leading to a 10-day ceasefire. A second round followed in late April, and a third in mid-May, during which both sides agreed on a negotiating framework and a 45-day ceasefire extension. Key delays currently stem from Israel’s demand for Hezbollah’s full disarmament and Lebanon’s call for a complete Israeli withdrawal from southern territory.
Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent was also quoted as saying that Hezbollah “is a terrorist organization and must be fully disarmed,” affirming that his department “will continue to take action against officials who have infiltrated the Lebanese government and are enabling Hizballah to wage its senseless campaign of violence against the Lebanese people and obstruct lasting peace.”
Importantly, the latest sanctions by the Treasury Department come just days after the US on Tuesday sanctioned more than 50 companies, individuals, and commercial vessels accused of “generating billions of dollars” for Iran and its armed forces, framing the move as part of the administration’s broader Economic Fury campaign against Tehran.
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