Masoud Bolus: Iran Uses Hezbollah to Spread Chaos and Undermine Lebanon's Sovereignty

said senior advisor to the U.S. president for Arab and African affairs Masoud Bolus, that Iran uses Hezbollah to "sow chaos across the Middle East and undermine Lebanon's sovereignty and threaten Washington's allies in the region."

He added in a post on the platform "X," that the action taken by the U.S. Department of the Treasury in reclassifying Hezbollah and imposing sanctions on 10 individuals reflects America's determination to cut off the group's funding networks.

He stated that the individuals targeted by sanctions are accused of transferring funds between Iran's Quds Force and Hezbollah.

On Thursday, the United States announced new sanctions targeting what it described as a Hezbollah financing network, highlighting the group's close ties with Iran's Revolutionary Guard.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury said in a statement that the administration revised a legal text classifying the group as a "terrorist organization," to affirm that it "serves the Iranian regime under the leadership of Iran's Quds Force within the Revolutionary Guard."

The United States designated Hezbollah a "foreign terrorist organization" in 1997, then a "specifically designated terrorist organization" in 2001.

A U.S. State Department official, who requested anonymity, said the new designation identifies Hezbollah as Iran's agent rather than an independent entity, acting "with little or no regard for Lebanese sovereignty, the Lebanese people, or the Lebanese state."

The official added that the U.S. decision "is based on years of classification rulings that repeatedly highlighted the operational, financial, and logistical integration between Hezbollah and the Quds Force," noting that the Lebanese group "functions as an extension of the Quds Force," and asserting that it "is not a Lebanese resistance movement."