OFAC Hizballah sanctions

The U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) administers sanctions targeting Hizballah (also spelled Hezbollah), the Lebanon-based Shia political and militant organization. The program blocks the property and interests in property of designated persons within U.S. jurisdiction and generally prohibits U.S. persons from transacting with them.

Hizballah was designated a Specially Designated Terrorist (SDT) in 1995 under Executive Order 12947 and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) in 2001 under Executive Order 13224, issued after the September 11 attacks. The U.S. State Department separately designated Hizballah a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) in 1997 under section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which triggers parallel material-support prohibitions enforced by the Department of Justice.

OFAC's authority is reinforced by statute. The Hizballah International Financing Prevention Act (HIFPA) of 2015 required sanctions on foreign financial institutions knowingly facilitating significant transactions for Hizballah, and the Hizballah International Financing Prevention Amendments Act of 2018 expanded targets to include networks, agencies, and fundraisers supporting the group. The Hizballah Financial Sanctions Regulations are codified at 31 C.F.R. Part 566.

Designations have reached Hizballah's Secretary-General, Shura Council members, the Islamic Jihad Organization, financial facilitators across West Africa and Latin America, currency-exchange networks in Lebanon, and front companies in the diamond, art, and oil trades. OFAC has also targeted Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force operatives who fund or arm Hizballah.

Practical consequences include asset freezes, secondary sanctions exposure for non-U.S. banks, and travel and correspondent-banking restrictions. Lebanese banks have closed accounts linked to designees to preserve dollar-clearing access, a dynamic that has shaped Lebanon's broader financial crisis since 2019. Delistings are rare and require a petition under OFAC's reconsideration process at 31 C.F.R. § 501.807.