US on Hezbollah funding and Lebanon’s reconstruction: What did Tommy Pigott tell LBCI? Watch the interview

U.S. State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott told LBCI that the United States has already imposed extensive sanctions on Iran under “Operation Economic Outcast,” which he said had led to the collapse of its currency and the disruption of its financial lifelines. 

He cited these measures as one of the reasons Washington maintains that the funds allegedly being transferred to Hezbollah do not exist.

Pigott also said the funds could not have been transferred through the Port of Beirut, claiming that Hezbollah was responsible for its explosion. 

He added that there was no way to transfer the money through Iraq or Turkey, arguing that the Iranian regime did not have the funds and would be unable to deliver them even if they existed.

Meanwhile, Pigott said the United States was holding talks with its partners in Gulf countries and Europe about the possibility of providing billions of dollars for the reconstruction of southern Lebanon.

He said such assistance would depend largely on Hezbollah’s disarmament and an end to what he described as the group’s obstruction of the Lebanese government’s reconstruction efforts in the south.