US imposes sanctions on Hezbollah leadership

The US Treasury announced on Wednesday it has imposed sanctions on Hezbollah leadership as well as other individuals and one group, a move it claimed to "disrupt an Iranian-backed terrorist group."

The treasury said in a statement that the latest action, taken with its Gulf allies, or the other six members of the Terrorist Financing Targeting Center (TFTC), designated Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah, its Deputy Secretary General Naim Qasim and four other individuals and one group.

The designation targeted Iran and Hezballah's "destabilising influence in the region," Xinhua quoted US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin as saying.

As a result of these actions, all property and interests in property of those designated today subject to US jurisdiction are blocked and US persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with them.

It was a new round of penalties on Iran and its overseas connections by Washington following US President Donald Trump's announcement of withdrawing from the landmark Iran nuclear deal last week.

In addition, the other six TFTC member countries, namely Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), also designated the key Hezballah-affiliated individuals and entities, which have already been on the US blacklist.

The TFTC was formed in May 2017 and inaugurated by the Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and Trump on the sidelines of the Arab-Islamic-American Summit last year.

--IANS

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