The individuals and companies allegedly facilitate and conceal oil sales for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard, which sends the money to the terror group.
Individuals and entities helping to finance the Hezbollah terrorist group were sanctioned by the U.S. Department of the Treasury on March 28.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) “is designating five individuals and three associated companies involved in a Lebanon-based sanctions evasion network supporting the Hizballah finance team,” the agency said in a March 28 statement.
Hezbollah, also known as Hizballah, is an Iran-backed terrorist group based in Lebanon. Following the Hamas attack against Israel in October 2023, Hezbollah began firing thousands of rockets and mortars into Israel.
According to the Treasury, “the Hizballah finance team uses front companies to generate millions of dollars in revenue for Hizballah and support the group’s terrorist activities.”
The team manages several commercial projects and oil smuggling networks to generate revenue, which is eventually transferred to Hezbollah, it said. This is typically done in conjunction with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force (IRGC-QF).
The individuals and companies that OFAC has sanctioned facilitate and conceal oil sales for IRGC-QF and offer the terrorist group access to formal financial systems.
For instance, one of the sanctioned companies is Ravee SARL, a Lebanese business “that aims to generate profits for Hizballah from trade deals related to veterinary products,” the Treasury said.
A sanctioned individual, Mahasin Mahmud Murtada, is a “registered owner of several companies associated with Hizballah’s commercial investments,” it said.
With the new sanctions, all property of the designated individuals and companies that are in the United States “are blocked and must be reported to OFAC,” the agency said. U.S. citizens are prohibited from engaging in any transactions involving the sanctioned individuals.
“Violations of U.S. sanctions may result in the imposition of civil or criminal penalties on U.S. and foreign persons. OFAC may impose civil penalties for sanctions violations,” the agency said.
Acting Undersecretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Bradley T. Smith said OFAC’s latest actions aim to “expose and disrupt the schemes that fund Hizballah’s terrorist violence against the Lebanese people and their neighbors.”
“These evasion networks strengthen Iran and its proxy Hizballah and undermine the courageous efforts of the Lebanese people to build a Lebanon for all its citizens,” he said.
