REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department has set up a team to investigate individuals and organizations providing support to Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Islamist group in Lebanon that the U.S. has branded a terrorist organization, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said on Thursday. As this taskforce starts its work, it’s important for the Justice, State, and Treasury Departments to provide answers about what exactly happened while the Obama Administration pursued the Iran deal.”

Sessions announced last month that he was ordering a review of the Project Cassandra cases and he said he was "hopeful" that the Obama administration had not thrown barriers in the way of such investigations. The US announcement to resume its crackdown against Hezbollah signals that the Trump administration could be prepared to break away from the Iran nuclear deal, which gives Iran relief from sanctions in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program. Attorney General Jeff Sessions is creating a dedicated team of prosecutors and investigators to focus on drug trafficking by the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in response to a recent POLITICO article that highlighted some such cases were softpedaled during the Obama administration in order avoid derailing a nuclear deal with Tehran

A Justice Department statement said the newly-formed Hezbollah Financing and Narcoterrorism Team will "begin by assessing the evidence in existing investigations," including the so-called Project Cassandra probes highlighted in the POLITICO report. Read more: Marching for Lebanon's future under the threat of war

"The Justice Department will leave no stone unturned in order to eliminate threats to our citizens from terrorist organizations and to stem the tide of the devastating drug crisis," said Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
The Trump administration through the U.S. Justice Department establishes the Hezbollah Financing and Narcoterrorism Team to assist with the DEA's Project Cassandra investigation into groups supporting Hezbollah.