Washington targets Iran’s billion-dollar funding network to Hezbollah while Israel strikes relentlessly to prevent the terror group’s rearmament in Lebanon.
The United States is moving to seize a narrow but critical opportunity to sever Iran’s billion-dollar lifeline to Hezbollah, as the terror organization reels from devastating losses in its 2023-2024 war with Israel.
In an interview with Reuters, U.S. Treasury Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence John Hurley revealed that Tehran has funneled nearly $1 billion to Hezbollah this year — even as Iran’s own economy buckles under sanctions and internal unrest.
“There’s a moment in Lebanon now,” Hurley said. “If we could get Hezbollah to disarm, the Lebanese people could get their country back. The key is cutting off Iran’s control — the money that fuels Hezbollah’s terror.”
Hurley’s remarks come during his first Middle East tour under President Donald Trump, covering Turkey, Lebanon, the UAE, and Israel — a coordinated regional campaign to isolate Tehran and dismantle its proxy network. The Treasury official has met with bankers and government leaders to tighten sanctions and expose Hezbollah’s covert financial routes.
Washington last week blacklisted two money-exchange operatives accused of laundering Iranian funds to Hezbollah’s military wing. The sanctions are part of a renewed “maximum pressure” policy targeting Iran’s uranium program and regional aggression.
Meanwhile, Israel’s IDF continues to strike deep inside southern Lebanon, targeting Hezbollah operatives attempting to restore their war-damaged infrastructure. Over the weekend, Israeli forces eliminated a Hezbollah commander near Baraashit, two operatives of the so-called “Lebanese Resistance Brigades” in Chebaa, and destroyed multiple Radwan Force weapons depots.
The Israeli military emphasized that Hezbollah’s activities violate the 2024 ceasefire understandings, warning that attempts to rebuild will be met with “decisive, surgical force.”
In Jerusalem, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chaired a high-level security briefing in which defense officials warned that Hezbollah is rearming at an alarming rate, in defiance of U.N. Resolution 1701 and Lebanese cabinet directives to disarm the militia by the end of 2025. Hezbollah’s deputy leader Naim Qassem defiantly rejected the Lebanese government’s new disarmament plan, vowing that the group “will never surrender its weapons.”
For Israel, the stakes could not be higher. Every drone strike and intercepted shipment is part of a larger campaign — to prevent Hezbollah, Iran’s most dangerous satellite, from rising again. And for Washington, the strategy is clear: cut the cash, break the chain, and push Iran’s terror empire into collapse.
