NCRI Staff
NCRI -There can be no doubt that the Lebanese Hezbollah does the bidding of the Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and as such they deserved the latest round of sanctions against them.
The sanctions, passed by the US on Friday, will delay the flow of illicit money to Hezbollah’s war chest and attack its ability to help the IRGC fight for the Syrian dictator Bashar al Assad. This will be the first in a wave of sanctions against Hezbollah.
Hezbollah earned its terrorist label after the 1983 bombings in Beirut that killed 241 Americans at the behest of the Iranian Regime, but Trump is now using their links to the Iranian Regime in order to bring both of them down.
Two senior officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said they are working with countries in the area to make the sanctions truly effective. However, some veterans of past anti-Hezbollah campaigns said that this campaign must also include Europe and China to present a united front.
In the past, the EU has sanctioned Hezbollah’s military wing, but not its political wing. Trump calls this a false distinction and this recently sparked debate in the UK about the political section of Hezbollah.
Some in Europe are wary of joining the campaign because of Trump’s threats of withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal, aka the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, because they worry that the Iranian Regime will walk away from the deal, but if Iran is already flouting the deal, then what does it matter?
There is a mountain of evidence to show that Iran is breaking the deal, and what is the JCPOA worth if it cannot keep the Iranian Regime from breaking it?
Trump has already been issuing sanctions against the Iranian Regime’s key officials for terrorism, human rights abuses, and more, so they are just doing the same with Hezbollah.
Although, the Cipher Brief warns this may not be enough.
It reads: “These sanctions, against six individuals and seven companies you’ve probably never heard of, will likely frustrate the group that fights on behalf of Iran in Syria, but barely slow the group down.”
However, it does help to show the links between the Iranian Regime and terrorism and it does frustrate the Regime and its terrorists, something Trump is keen on, and most importantly it shows that the US is always watching and always ready to act.