Lawmakers Seek More Sanctions on Hezbollah
A bipartisan group of 46 House members urged the Biden administration this week to fully use “all tools at its disposal,” including sanctions, to crack down on Hezbollah’s international financing network.
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Hezbollah’s deadly attack on northern Israel last month underscored the threat the well-armed, Lebanon-based terrorist group poses and the need to “weaken” its access to financial resources, the lawmakers wrote in a letter led by Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., and addressed to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Attorney General Merrick Garland. Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia, is among the co-signers.
Among the sanctions authorities the administration could use, the letter says, are the Hizballah International Financing Prevention Act of 2015, which targets financial institutions that help Hezbollah launder money; the Hizballah International Financing Prevention Amendments Act of 2018, which allows for sanctions against foreign government agencies, including the Central Bank of Iran, that financially support Hezbollah; and Executive Order 13224, published in 2001, which targets Hezbollah members and providers of material support.
Although the Treasury and State departments had no immediate comment on the letter's sanctions recommendations, the administration has announced several rounds of sanctions against Hezbollah recently. The Office of Foreign Assets Control in May sanctioned five people, along with their companies, for helping a Hezbollah money exchanger evade sanctions and support the terrorist group (see 2405020013). OFAC also announced Hezbollah sanctions in January and March (see 2401310024 and 2403260016).