US sanctions official says time is right to cut ‘Iran's Hezbollah funding’ in Reuters interview

The United States seeks to take advantage of a "moment" in Lebanon in which it can cut Iranian funding to Hezbollah and press the group to disarm, the U.S. Treasury Department's top sanctions official said.

In a late Friday interview, John Hurley, the undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said Iran has managed to funnel about $1 billion to Hezbollah this year despite a raft of Western sanctions that have battered its economy.

"There's a moment in Lebanon now. If we could get Hezbollah to disarm, the Lebanese people could get their country back," Hurley said.

"The key to that is to drive out the Iranian influence and control that starts with all the money that they are pumping into Hezbollah," he told Reuters in Istanbul as part of a tour of Turkey, Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates, and Israel meant to raise pressure on Iran.

Hurley, in his first trip to the Middle East since taking office under President Donald Trump's administration, has pressed the case against Iran in meetings with government officials, bankers, and private sector executives.

"Even with everything Iran has been through, even with the economy not in great shape, they're still pumping a lot of money to their proxies," he said.

Reuters