The United States has taken decisive action to disrupt Hizballah’s illicit financial networks by sanctioning operatives who exploit Lebanon’s informal financial sector to generate revenue for the terrorist organisation. These individuals have facilitated sanctions evasion schemes involving Hizballah-controlled financial institution Al-Qard Al-Hassan (AQAH), and an Iran-based Hizballah finance operative, enabling the group to access and move funds outside legitimate regulatory channels.
Targeting Hizballah’s Shadow Banking Network
Hizballah continues to manipulate Lebanon’s fragile financial environment to sustain its operations, circumvent international sanctions, and finance its destabilising activities. AQAH, which operates under the guise of a charitable financial cooperative, functions in practice as a parallel banking system for Hizballah.
Through informal money exchanges, front companies, and cash-based networks, AQAH allows Hizballah to store, transfer, and distribute funds beyond the reach of legitimate regulatory oversight.
This shadow financial architecture not only enables terrorism but also corrodes Lebanon’s already strained financial system. By operating outside state authority, Hizballah weakens public institutions and entrenches an economy that benefits armed actors over ordinary citizens.
Sanctions Evasion and Iranian Support
The operatives designated today have played key roles in sustaining Hizballah’s financial infrastructure. Working in coordination with an Iran-based Hizballah finance team operative, they have helped channel funds through informal mechanisms designed to obscure transactions and evade sanctions. These networks allow Iran to covertly provide material support to Hizballah while attempting to shield its involvement from international scrutiny.
Iran’s backing of Hizballah is not merely financial—it is strategic. By maintaining a well-funded proxy force in Lebanon, Iran extends its regional influence, threatens U.S. interests, and destabilises neighbouring states. Disrupting these funding pipelines directly undermines Tehran’s ability to project power through militant proxies.
Advancing Maximum Pressure
This action reinforces President Trump’s whole-of-government policy of maximum pressure against Iran’s regime and its terrorist proxies, as outlined in National Security Presidential Memorandum 2 issued on February 4, 2025. Financial sanctions remain one of the most effective tools for constraining terrorist organisations, particularly those that rely on complex cross-border networks to fund their activities.
By targeting financial facilitators rather than only frontline operatives, the United States strikes at the structural foundation that enables Hizballah to recruit, arm, and operate. Cutting off funding weakens the organisation’s operational capacity and limits its ability to destabilise Lebanon and the broader region.
Protecting Lebanon’s Sovereignty and Stability
Iran’s financial support for Hizballah undermines Lebanon’s sovereignty and the authority of its elected government. Hizballah’s parallel financial and security structures divert resources, discourage investment, and obstruct reform. In a country already facing profound economic challenges, such practices deepen instability and impede recovery.
The United States remains committed to supporting the Lebanese state and the people of Lebanon. These sanctions are aimed at those who exploit Lebanon’s financial system for illicit gain—not at the Lebanese people themselves. By exposing and disrupting covert financing networks, the United States seeks to promote transparency, strengthen legitimate institutions, and help Lebanon chart a path toward stability and prosperity.
A Continued Commitment to Counterterrorism
The United States will continue using every tool at its disposal—financial sanctions, intelligence coordination, law enforcement cooperation, and diplomatic engagement—to ensure that Hizballah can no longer obstruct Lebanon’s regeneration or pose a threat to the United States and its interests.
We call on international partners to remain vigilant and to take coordinated action against terrorist financing networks. Disrupting these illicit financial flows is essential to safeguarding the global financial system, upholding national sovereignty, and promoting peace and security.
The United States will not relent in holding accountable those who enable terrorism and destabilization. By sanctioning Hizballah’s financial operatives today, we reaffirm our resolve to confront those who undermine stability in Lebanon and across the region.
