US hits nine Hezbollah-aligned individuals in Lebanon with sanctions

The United States on Thursday announced sanctions against nine individuals, including Iran's designated ambassador to Lebanon, for obstructing the peace process in the Middle Eastern country and impeding the disarmament of the Iran-backed Hezbollah group.



Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control said the officials were embedded across Lebanon’s parliament, military, and security sectors, where they worked to preserve Hezbollah's influence over key Lebanese state institutions.



"Hezbollah is a terrorist organization and must be fully disarmed,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement. Hezbollah, founded in 1982 by Iran's Revolutionary Guards, has been designated a "terrorist group" by the U.S. and Gulf Arab states, including Saudi Arabia.



The U.S. holds the group responsible for suicide bombings in 1983 that killed 241 U.S. service personnel and destroyed the U.S. Marine headquarters in Beirut, along with a French barracks, killing 58 French paratroopers. It blames Hezbollah for a suicide attack on the U.S. Embassy in Beirut in 1983.