The United States and Gulf partners imposed additional sanctions on Lebanon's Hezbollah leadership Wednesday, targeting its top two officials, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and Naim Qassem.

The U.S. Treasury Department said four other individuals also had been sanctioned, as was the group Islamic State in the Greater Sahara. It was the third round of sanctions announced by Washington since the United States pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal last week.

Wednesday's sanctions targeted members of the primary decision-making body of Hezbollah, the Treasury Department said in a statement.

"By targeting Hezbollah's Shura Council, our nations collectively rejected the false distinction between a so-called 'Political Wing' and Hezbollah's global terrorist plotting," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said.

The measures were imposed jointly by Washington and its partners in the Terrorist Financing and Targeting Center, or TFTC, which include Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and United Arab Emirates, it said.

A number of those targeted by the TFTC had been previously blacklisted by the United States.

On Tuesday, the United States imposed sanctions on Iran's central bank governor and an Iraq-based bank for "moving millions of dollars" for Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard.

Last week, the U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions against six individuals and three companies it said were funneling millions of dollars to the Revolutionary Guard's external arm, the Quds Force.</s>Why did this happen?

Please make sure your browser supports JavaScript and cookies and that you are not blocking them from loading. For more information you can review our Terms of Service and Cookie Policy.</s>BEIRUT (Reuters) - The leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah group said on Monday a missile salvo into the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights last week marked a new phase in the Syrian war and showed Damascus and its allies would not let Israeli attacks in Syria go unanswered.

Israel has said the attack from Syrian territory was carried out by Iran's Revolutionary Guards, which set up Shi'ite Hezbollah in Lebanon in 1982. Iranian forces and Hezbollah have deployed to Syria in support of President Bashar al-Assad.

Israel said it had attacked nearly all of Iran's military infrastructure in Syria in response to the attack, which marked the first time Iranian forces have fired at Israeli-held territory. It was the most extensive military exchange ever between the foes.

Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, in a televised speech, said 55 missiles were fired in the attack last Thursday - nearly three times more than the 20 missiles which Israel said were shot down or had not reached their targets in the attack.

He did not say if Hezbollah had taken part in the attack.

"The message delivered ... is that neither the Syrian leadership, nor the Syrian army, nor the Syrian people, nor the allies of Syria will allow Syria to remain exposed to Israeli attacks and they are ready to go to the furthest extent," Nasrallah said.

Israel had tried to disguise the scale of the attack, he said. The rocket attack had set the stage for "an entirely new phase", he said.

Israel, which fears Iran and Hezbollah are turning Syria into a new front against it, has struck targets in the country many times during the war, hitting the Syrian army, Hezbollah and what it has characterized as Iran-backed positions.

Ahead of last week's attack, Iran had vowed to respond to an Israeli attack which it said had killed seven of its military personnel at a Syrian air base in April.

Addressing Israel, Nasrallah said: "If you thought that you could kill and bomb without receiving a response, then you are wrong and misguided, and the response will be in the appropriate form and time."

Israel said the attack was carried out by the Quds Force, an external arm of Iran's Revolutionary Guards. The White House said Iran's deployment of offensive rocket and missile systems in Syria aimed at Israel was "an unacceptable and highly dangerous development for the entire Middle East".

Nasrallah said Israel had not struck strategically significant targets during its attacks in Syria.

He added that a message had been delivered to Israel via an international party that if it crossed "red lines" then the "next bombardment would be in the heart of occupied Palestine".

He was referring to Israel's borders on the eve of the 1967 war. Nasrallah did not spell out what the "red lines" were.

Earlier on Monday, Nasrallah's deputy, Sheikh Naim Qassem, said the attack had affirmed "the balance of deterrence" between Israel and its adversaries.

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.</s>The Treasury Department named. Valiollah Seif, governor of Iran's central bank, and another senior bank official as ‘specially designated global terrorists’ for allegedly sending funds to Hezbollah.

The Treasury Department named. Valiollah Seif, governor of Iran's central bank, and another senior bank official as ‘specially designated global terrorists’ for allegedly sending funds to Hezbollah. Photo: Drew Angerer/Bloomberg News

WASHINGTON—The Treasury Department imposed sanctions Tuesday on the governor of Iran’s central bank and another senior bank official, accusing them of funneling millions of dollars to Hezbollah, the Lebanese militia designated as a terror group by the U.S.

The Treasury Department said that Valiollah Seif, the governor of the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran, sent the funds to Hezbollah through an Iraqi bank, the al-Bilad Islamic Bank. The funds were sent on behalf of Iran’s Quds Force, an Iranian paramilitary organization fighting in Syria along with Hezbollah to support President Bashar al-Assad.

The sanctions are part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to preclude the Quds Force from using the international banking system.

Iran has long been involved in the Syria conflict and has supplied missiles and other weapons to Hezbollah, which is widely regarded as its proxy in the region. The Trump administration is trying to pressure Iran to curtail that support. But it has stopped short of taking military action against Iranian forces and Iranian-backed militias in Syria while defending Israel’s military strikes there.

In the sanctions announced Tuesday, Mr. Seif and Ali Tarzali, the assistant director of the international department at the bank, were named as “specially designated global terrorists.” The Treasury Department also sanctioned the al-Bilad Islamic Bank and its chairman and chief executive, Aras Habib. Muhammad Qasir, a Hezbollah official Treasury said had disbursed the funds, was also sanctioned.

Iran had no immediate reaction to the announcement, which came after government offices had closed.

The Treasury pointed out that the sanctions announced Tuesday don’t extend to Iran’s central bank. But broader sanctions on certain transactions with the central bank will be reimposed in August as a result of President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear accord.

After the U.S. exited the accord, the Trump administration threatened to impose sanctions on European companies that continue do business with Iran. European leader say they want to preserve the Iran agreement. Iran’s foreign minister Javad Zarif met Tuesday with European Union foreign-policy chief Federica Mogherini to discuss ways to try to salvage the agreement.</s>The U.S. Treasury on Tuesday imposed sanctions on the governor and a senior official of the Central Bank of Iran, as well as an Iraq-based bank and its chairman, and a key Hezbollah official. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Valiollah Seif, Iran's central bank chief, covertly funneled millions of dollars on behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps through the Iraqi bank to support Hezbollah. Treasury said the sanctions seek to stifle Iran's ability to abuse the U.S. and regional financial systems, but don't extend to the Central Bank of Iran itself.</s>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Tuesday imposed sanctions on Iran’s central bank governor, Valiollah Seif, and Iraq-based Al-Bilad Islamic Bank for “moving millions of dollars” for Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard Corps, as Washington seeks to cut off funding for what it says is Iran’s malign activities in the Middle East.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Seif covertly funneled millions of dollars on behalf of the IRGC through Al-Bilad bank “to enrich and support the violent and radical agenda of Hezbollah.”

The United States classifies Lebanon’s Shi’ite Muslim movement Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, as a terrorist group.

“It is appalling, but not surprising, that Iran’s senior-most banking official would conspire with the IRGC-QF to facilitate funding of terror groups like Hezbollah, and it undermines any credibility he could claim in protecting the integrity of the institution as a central bank governor,” Mnuchin said in a statement.

The U.S. Treasury also blacklisted Ali Tarzali, assistant director of the international department of Iran’s central bank, and the chairman of Al-Bilad Islamic Bank, Aras Habib.

The department said the sanctions against Seif and Tarzali would not immediately affect central bank transactions. It said, however, sanctions being reimposed under the nuclear deal would affect certain U.S. dollar transactions by the central bank starting on Aug. 7, 2018.

Last week, two days after U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, the U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions against six individuals and three companies it said were funneling millions of dollars to the IRGC-QF.

The IRGC is by far Iran’s most powerful security entity and has control over large stakes in Iran’s economy and huge influence in its political system. The Quds Force is an elite unit in charge of the IRGC’ overseas operations.</s>The United States on Tuesday imposed sanctions on Iran's central bank governor and an Iraq-based bank for "moving millions of dollars" for Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard, as Washington seeks to cut off funding it says Tehran is using to fund militant activities overseas.

WASHINGTON: The United States on Tuesday imposed sanctions on Iran's central bank governor and an Iraq-based bank for "moving millions of dollars" for Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard, as Washington seeks to cut off funding it says Tehran is using to fund militant activities overseas.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin accused bank chief Valiollah Seif of covertly funnelling money on behalf of the revolutionary guard's external arm, Quds Force (IRGC-QF), through Al-Bilad Islamic Bank "to enrich and support the violent and radical agenda of Hezbollah."

The move cuts off Iran's use of a critical banking network, he said. The United States classifies Lebanon's Shi'ite Muslim movement Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, as a terrorist organisation.

"It is appalling, but not surprising, that Iran's senior-most banking official would conspire with the IRGC-QF to facilitate funding of terror groups like Hezbollah, and it undermines any credibility he could claim in protecting the integrity of the institution as a central bank governor," Mnuchin said in a statement.

Speaking in Brussels, Iran's Foreign Minister Javad Zarif called the sanctions against Seif illegal.

The U.S. Treasury also blacklisted Ali Tarzali, assistant director of the international department of Iran's central bank, and the chairman of Al-Bilad Islamic Bank, Aras Habib.

It said Habib had a history of smuggling money to Iranian-backed Iraqi groups and "enabled the IRGC-QF's exploitation of Iraq's banking sector to move funds from Tehran to Hezbollah, jeopardizing the integrity of the Iraqi financial system."

The department said the sanctions would not immediately affect central bank transactions. It said, however, that sanctions being reimposed after the withdrawal of the United States from the Iran nuclear deal would affect certain U.S. dollar transactions by the central bank starting from Aug. 7, 2018.

Last week, two days after U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, the U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions against six individuals and three companies it said were funnelling millions of dollars to the IRGC-QF.

British, French and German foreign ministers met in Brussels on Tuesday to try to find a way to save the nuclear deal without the United States, but appeared hard-pressed over how their companies could continue doing business with Iran once Washington begins to reimpose sanctions.

The IRGC is by far Iran's most powerful security organisation and has control over large stakes in Iran's economy and huge influence in its political system. The Quds Force is an elite unit in charge of the IRGC overseas operations.</s>The United States escalated its financial pressure on Iran Tuesday by slapping terror sanctions on the head of its central bank and barring anyone around the world from doing business with him, underscoring President Donald Trump’s hard line after his withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear accord upset European allies.

Valiollah Seif, the governor of the Iranian central bank, was named a “specially designated global terrorist” along with another senior official, Ali Tarzali, who works in the central bank’s international division. The Treasury Department accused the men of secretly funneling millions of dollars through an Iraqi bank to help Hezbollah, the militant network that the U.S. considers a terrorist group.

Although the sanctions do not technically extend to the central bank itself, they could significantly increase Iran’s isolation from the global financial system. Seif, whose role is equivalent to the Federal Reserve chairman in the U.S., oversees major financial decisions in Iran. Any transactions that involve his signature could potentially run afoul of the sanctions, creating a strong deterrent to foreign governments or businesses considering transactions involving Iran’s central bank.

“The United States will not permit Iran’s increasingly brazen abuse of the international financial system,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said. “The global community must remain vigilant against Iran’s deceptive efforts to provide financial support to its terrorist proxies.”

The moves come as Trump’s administration, after deeming the 2015 nuclear deal insufficiently tough on Iran, seeks to construct a global coalition to place enough pressure on Tehran that it comes back to the negotiating table to strike a “better deal.” The sanctions targeting Iran’s central bank executives are some of the first actions by Trump’s administration since pulling out of the deal to start ramping up that economic pressure.

The sanctions were expected to be followed by additional U.S actions in the coming weeks, as the Trump administration works to dismantle the main banking conduits exploited by Iran and its Revolutionary Guards to convert Iranian rials into euros or dollars. Those Western “hard currencies” could then be used to fund extremist elements, such as in Lebanon and Syria.

There was no immediate comment Tuesday night from Iranian officials. Iranian media initially reported the decision based on reports in the foreign media.

The U.S. sanctions came as Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was meeting in Brussels with the top French, British and German diplomats as the Europeans seek to keep Iran from bailing on the nuclear deal. The European members of the deal are trying to keep it alive without the U.S. Yet it’s unclear that will be workable, because Trump has vowed to punish European companies that continue doing business with Iran despite re-imposed U.S. sanctions.

Typically, when the U.S. punishes individuals with sanctions, it prohibits Americans or U.S. companies from doing business with them. In this case, the U.S. chose to also impose “secondary sanctions,” which also apply to non-Americans and non-U.S. companies. That means that anyone, in any country, who does business with Seif or Tarzali could themselves be punished with sanctions, cutting them off from the U.S. financial system.

Seif, a career banker, became the head of Iran’s Central Bank in 2013 under President Hassan Rouhani, who shepherded the nuclear deal. Seif frequently visits Washington to attend meetings of the International Monetary Fund.

He has helped guide Iran’s economy through the web of previous sanctions placed on that country. In the aftermath of the 2015 international nuclear accord, in which nuclear sanctions on Iran were lifted, Seid was a prominent voice complaining that Iran was still being kept out of the global financial system and not receiving the economic benefits it was promised in exchange for curtailing its nuclear program.

In a 2016 meeting of the Council on Foreign Relation in Washington, Seif said Iran achieved “almost nothing” from the deal.

The Treasury said that Seif undermined the central bank’s credibility by routing millions of dollars from the Quds Force, the expeditionary unit of Iran’s hard-line Revolutionary Guards, to al-Bilad Islamic Bank, which is based in Iraq. Those funds were then used to “enrich and support the violent and radical agenda of Hezbollah,” Treasury said.

Al-Bilad Islamic Bank and its CEO and chairman, Aras Habib, were also hit with U.S. sanctions, as was Muhammad Qasir, who the Treasury said is a Hezbollah official who has been a “critical conduit” for transferring funds to Hezbollah from the Revolutionary Guards. U.S. officials were reaching out Tuesday to central banks in other countries in the Middle East and Europe to inform them of the sanctions and encourage them to immediately freeze assets the bank has overseas.

Lebanon’s Hezbollah, the powerful Shiite guerrilla force that is also a prominent political player in Lebanon, has long helped carry out Iran’s foreign policy objectives in the Arabic-speaking world. Most recently, the U.S. has been concerned about the role that Hezbollah fighters are playing in Syria to help prop up President Bashar Assad. Hezbollah fought a war with Israel in 2006, and Israeli officials have been deeply concerned about the prospect of another confrontation.

Although it is rare to sanction central bank officials, the U.S. has done it before. Earlier this year, the Trump administration slapped sanctions on the deputy governor of Russia’s central bank, Alexander Torshin. And in 2015, the U.S. targeted the governor of Syria’s central bank.</s>(WASHINGTON) — The United States intensified its financial pressure on Iran on Tuesday, slapping anti-terror sanctions on the head of its central bank and barring anyone around the world from doing business with him. That dealt a further blow to European hopes of salvaging the Iranian nuclear deal in the wake of President Donald Trump’s withdrawal.

Valiollah Seif, the governor of the Iranian central bank, was named a “specially designated global terrorist” along with another senior official, Ali Tarzali, who works in the central bank’s international division. The Treasury Department accused the men of secretly funneling millions of dollars through an Iraqi bank to help Hezbollah, the militant network that the U.S. considers a terrorist group.

Although the sanctions do not technically extend to the central bank itself, they could significantly increase Iran’s isolation from the global financial system. Seif, whose role is equivalent to the Federal Reserve chairman in the U.S., oversees major financial decisions in Iran. Any transactions that involve his signature could potentially run afoul of the sanctions, creating a strong disincentive for governments or businesses considering deals involving Iran’s central bank.

“The United States will not permit Iran’s increasingly brazen abuse of the international financial system,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said. “The global community must remain vigilant against Iran’s deceptive efforts to provide financial support to its terrorist proxies.”

Typically, when the U.S. punishes individuals with sanctions, it prohibits Americans or U.S. companies from doing business with them. In this case, the U.S. chose to also impose “secondary sanctions,” which also apply to non-Americans and non-U.S. companies. That means that anyone in any country who does business with Seif or Tarzali could be punished.

The latest move comes as Trump’s administration, deeming the 2015 nuclear accord insufficiently tough on Iran, seeks to construct a global coalition to place enough pressure on Tehran that it comes back to the negotiating table.

Yet the European members of the international accord, livid at Trump over his withdrawal, have yet to commit to that effort. To the contrary, Britain, France and Germany are working to salvage it. Their top diplomats met Tuesday in Brussels with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in a bid to keep Iran from bailing.

Whether the deal can survive without the U.S. depends on whether Tehran continues to receive sufficient economic benefits by way of business with the Europeans. Not only is Trump re-imposing sanctions on Iran, but he’s also threatening to take the dramatic step of punishing European businesses that don’t wind down their dealing there. That has left the Europeans in the undesirable position of having to decide whether to call his bluff.

The new sanctions on central bank officials appear designed to strengthen Trump’s hand, creating another avenue by which anyone doing business in Iran could risk being cut off from New York, the beating heart of the global financial system.

“Trump can use this in his arguments with Europe to deter business with Iran,” said Behnam Ben Taleblu, an Iran sanctions expert at the hawkish Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “All of this is another arrow in the quiver.”

There was no immediate comment Tuesday night from Iranian officials.

The sanctions were expected to be followed by additional U.S actions in coming weeks, as the Trump administration works to dismantle the main banking conduits exploited by Iran and its Revolutionary Guards to convert Iranian rials into euros or dollars. Those Western “hard currencies” can be used to fund extremist elements, such as in Lebanon and Syria.

Seif, a career banker, became the head of Iran’s Central Bank in 2013 under President Hassan Rouhani, who shepherded the nuclear deal. Seif frequently visits Washington to attend meetings of the International Monetary Fund.

He has helped guide Iran’s economy through the web of previous sanctions placed on that country. In the aftermath of the 2015 international accord, in which nuclear sanctions on Iran were lifted, Seif was a prominent voice complaining that Iran was still being kept out of the global financial system and not receiving the economic benefits it was promised in exchange for curtailing its nuclear program.

In a 2016 meeting of the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, Seif said Iran achieved “almost nothing” from the deal.

The Treasury said Seif undermined the central bank’s credibility by routing millions of dollars from the Quds Force, the expeditionary unit of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, to al-Bilad Islamic Bank, which is based in Iraq. Those funds were then used to “enrich and support the violent and radical agenda of Hezbollah,” Treasury said.

Al-Bilad Islamic Bank and its CEO and chairman, Aras Habib, were also hit with U.S. sanctions, as was Muhammad Qasir, who the Treasury said is a Hezbollah official who has been a “critical conduit” for transferring funds to Hezbollah. U.S. officials were reaching out Tuesday to central banks in other countries in the Middle East and Europe to inform them of the sanctions and encourage them to immediately freeze assets the bank has overseas.

Lebanon’s Hezbollah, the Shiite guerrilla force, has long helped carry out Iran’s foreign policy objectives in the Arabic-speaking world. Most recently, the U.S. has been concerned about the role that Hezbollah fighters are playing in Syria to help prop up President Bashar Assad. Hezbollah fought a war with Israel in 2006, and Israeli officials have been deeply concerned about the prospect of another confrontation.

Although it is rare to sanction central bank officials, the U.S. has done it before. Earlier this year, the Trump administration ordered sanctions on the deputy governor of Russia’s central bank, Alexander Torshin. And in 2015, the U.S. targeted the governor of Syria’s central bank.</s>WASHINGTON: The United States slapped sanctions Tuesday on Valiollah Seif, the governor of the Central Bank of Iran, accusing him of helping the country's Revolutionary Guard Corps transfer millions of dollars to Lebanon's Hezbollah.

In the second move in a week taking aim at the money networks of the Revolutionary Guards, or IRGC, the US Treasury also blacklisted a second central bank official, Iraq's Al-Bilad Islamic Bank and its top two executives, and a liaison between IRGC and Hezbollah, which Washington has designated an international terrorist group.

The Treasury said Seif covertly moved "hundreds of millions of dollars" to Hezbollah from IRGC via Al-Bilad Islamic Bank.

Tuesday's action seeks to cut off what the US called a "critical" banking network for Iran, and deny those blacklisted access to the global financial system.

"The United States will not permit Iran's increasingly brazen abuse of the international financial system," said US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

"The global community must remain vigilant against Iran's deceptive efforts to provide financial support to its terrorist proxies."

On Thursday, the Treasury announced sanctions against a "large scale" currency exchange network serving the Revolutionary Guards, hitting six individuals and three companies at the center of the network.

At the time, the US singled out the Central Bank of Iran as "complicit" in the operation, foreshadowing Tuesday's action.

The move against Seif came one week after President Donald Trump withdrew from the Iran nuclear accord and signalled plans to ratchet up pressure on the Iranian economy, and especially on the economic power of the Revolutionary Guards.

A European official said that some senior figures in the US administration were pushing for a "North Korea scenario" in Iran, in reference to the drastic sanctions imposed on the North Korean regime which Washington believes helped push the country's leader, Kim Jong Un, into halting missile and nuclear testing and agreeing to renewed negotiations.

The blacklisted head of Iraq’s Al-Bilad Islamic Bank was named as Aras Habib, who ran in last weekend's general elections as a candidate on the slate of Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi, whose government has been supported by the United States and the international community. He is expected to gain a seat in the newly elected assembly.
The United States Treasury Department announces new sanctions on Iran central bank governor Valiollah Seif and assistant director Ali Tarzali for allegedly helping the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Quds Force support Hezbollah.