US sanctions financiers funneling Iranian money to Hezbollah amid pressure campaign

The US has sanctioned several key people for funneling tens of millions of dollars from Iran to Hezbollah, including through facilitating the sale of Iranian oil, gas and other energy products, the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control said Nov. 6.

"Lebanon has an opportunity to be free, prosperous, and secure – but that can only happen if [Hezbollah] is fully disarmed and cut off from Iran's funding and control," Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence John Hurley said in a statement.

The US has issued multiple rounds of sanctions targeting Iran's energy exports in recent months. Tehran exported an average of 1.5 million b/d of crude in October, down from an average of 1.7 million b/d for the prior 12 months, according to S&P Global Commodities at Sea data.

The latest sanctions target financial operatives who oversee the movement of funds from Iran into Hezbollah through money exchanges, the statement said. Since January 2025, the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps-Qods Force has transferred more than $1 billion to Hezbollah, mostly through these exchanges, OFAC said.

Hezbollah's ability to transfer money was degraded by the December 2024 collapse of Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria and by the death of Muhammad Qasir, Hezbollah's finance team chief, Treasury said.

Qasir was killed by an Israeli airstrike in Beirut in October 2024.

After Qasir's death, his job was split among others, including his son Ja'far Muhammad Qasir, who is now being sanctioned by OFAC. In 2025, Ja'far helped recover the Arman 114, a US-blocked oil tanker that had been seized by Indonesian authorities, OFAC said. The tanker had been carrying Iranian-origin crude in the name of a Hezbollah-controlled oil broker, OFAC said.

Ja'far also has a history of facilitating the sale of Iranian oil, gas, and other energy products on behalf of Hezbollah, OFAC said.

Treasury sanctioned Ossama Jaber, who works directly with Lebanese exchange companies and collected tens of millions of dollars for Hezbollah between September 2024 and February 2025, OFAC said.

And Treasury sanctioned Samer Kasbar, who works with Hezbollah's finance team on business deals, including a 2025 deal to export metals and chemicals from Iran, OFAC said.