Sanctions Targeting Senior Hizballah Officials and Financial Facilitators in Lebanon and Iran
WASHINGTON —Today, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is targeting two senior Hizballah officials and two financial facilitators for their roles in coordinating financial transfers for Hizballah. These individuals, based in Lebanon and Iran, work closely with Hizballah leadership to send money to the group from overseas donors. These donations are a significant portion of the terrorist group’s overall budget. In addition to managing and processing funding for Hizballah within Lebanon, one of these individuals is responsible for overseeing financial activity for Hizballah-aligned groups around the world.
“Today’s action underscores Hizballah’s extensive global reach through its network of terrorist donors and supporters, particularly in Tehran,” said Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Michael Faulkender. “As part of our ongoing efforts to address Iran’s support for terrorism, Treasury will continue to intensify economic pressure on the key individuals in the Iranian regime and its proxies who enable these deadly activities.”
Today’s action maintains pressure on Hizballah financing as it attempts to reconstitute in the aftermath of the October-November 2024 conflict with Israel, building on several recent actions targeting Hizballah illicit finance networks involved in oil sales and other commercial enterprises. Today’s action is being taken pursuant to the counterterrorism authority Executive Order (E.O.) 13224, as amended. Hizballah was designated by the Department of State as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) pursuant to E.O. 13224 on October 31, 2001. This action is in furtherance of Treasury’s implementation of National Security Presidential Memorandum 2 (NSPM-2), instituting a campaign of maximum economic pressure on Iran and its terrorist proxies.
HIZBALLAH FINANCIAL FACILITATORS
Mu’in Daqiq Al-‘Amili (Al-‘Amili) is a senior Hizballah representative in Qom, Iran with ties to senior Hizballah operatives and the Hizballah Foreign Relations Department dating back to at least 2001. Al-‘Amili was involved in coordinating the delivery of cash payments from Iran to senior Hizballah finance officials in Lebanon working directly for the late Hizballah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah’s office. One of these officials, Jihad Alami (Alami), was responsible for receiving and distributing the funding. Following Hamas’ brutal attack on October 7 and during the ensuing conflict in Gaza in late 2023 and early 2024, Al-‘Amili coordinated the delivery of at least $50,000 to Alami in Lebanon, which was collected from Iran likely for onward transfer to Gaza.
Fadi Nehme (Nehme) is an accountant and business partner of the Chief of Hizballah’s Central Finance Unit, Ibrahim Ali Daher (Daher), who was designated by OFAC on May 11, 2021, for his role overseeing Hizballah’s overall budget and spending, including the group’s funding of its terrorist operations and malign activity. Nehme is also a part owner of Auditors for Accounting and Auditing, which was designated by OFAC on December 1, 2022, for being owned or controlled by Daher, and which also provides financial services to Hizballah. Senior Hizballah financial official Naser Hasan Neser (Neser) also owns a stake in the company; Neser was designated by OFAC on December 1, 2022, for acting for or on behalf of Auditors for Accounting and Auditing.
Senior Hizballah official Hasan Abdallah Ni’mah (Ni’mah) facilitates funding and networking opportunities for Hizballah across Africa, including the management of millions of dollars in transactions for Hizballah. As of August 2022, Ni’mah coordinated the delivery of hundreds of thousands of U.S. dollars to the Hizballah-aligned Islamic Movement of Nigeria. Ni’mah has had longstanding connections with senior Hizballah leaders, including the now-deceased Hizballah Secretary General Nasrallah.
Al-‘Amili, Alami, and Nehme are being designated pursuant to E.O. 13224, as amended, for having materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of, Hizballah.
Ni’mah is being designated pursuant to E.O. 13224, as amended, for having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, Hizballah.
SANCTIONS IMPLICATIONS
As a result of today’s action, all property and interests in property of the designated or blocked persons described above that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons are blocked and must be reported to OFAC. In addition, any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, individually or in the aggregate, 50 percent or more by one or more blocked persons are also blocked. Unless authorized by a general or specific license issued by OFAC, or exempt, OFAC’s regulations generally prohibit all transactions by U.S. persons or within (or transiting) the United States that involve any property or interests in property of designated or otherwise blocked persons.
Violations of U.S. sanctions may result in the imposition of civil or criminal penalties on U.S. and foreign persons. OFAC may impose civil penalties for sanctions violations on a strict liability basis. OFAC’s Economic Sanctions Enforcement Guidelines provide more information regarding OFAC’s enforcement of U.S. economic sanctions. In addition, financial institutions and other persons may risk exposure to sanctions for engaging in certain transactions or activities with designated or otherwise blocked persons. The prohibitions include the making of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services by, to, or for the benefit of any designated person, or the receipt of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services from any such person.
Furthermore, engaging in certain transactions with the persons designated today entails risk of secondary sanctions pursuant to E.O. 13224, as amended. Pursuant to these authorities, OFAC can prohibit or impose strict conditions on opening or maintaining, in the United States, a correspondent account or a payable-through account of a foreign financial institution that knowingly conducts or facilitates any significant transaction on behalf of a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.
Exports, reexports, or transfers of items subject to U.S. export controls involving persons included on the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN) List pursuant to E.O. 13224, as amended, may be subject to additional restrictions administered by the Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security. See 15 C.F.R. section 744.8 for additional information.
The power and integrity of OFAC sanctions derive not only from OFAC’s ability to designate and add persons to the SDN List, but also from its willingness to remove persons from the SDN List consistent with the law. The ultimate goal of sanctions is not to punish, but to bring about a positive change in behavior. For information concerning the process for seeking removal from an OFAC list, including the SDN List, please refer to OFAC’s Frequently Asked Question 897 here, and to submit a request for removal, click here.
Click here for more information on the persons designated today.
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