US intensifies Hezbollah and Captagon sanctions as it hardens anti-Iran stance

Treasury Department announces designation of six people and four companies as possibility of long-term regional conflict looms

Demonstrators wave the flags of Iran and Hezbollah during a rally in Tehran, after the assassination of the group's leader, Hassan Nasrallah. AFP

The US on Wednesday intensified sanctions against Iran-backed figures in the Middle East, including Lebanon-based Hezbollah and Syrian government-linked people it says are directly involved in the Captagon trade.

The Treasury Department announced it had designated three people and four companies for their roles in a “sanctions evasion network that generates revenue for Hezbollah”, as well as three people linked to the regime of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad, for their role in the Captagon trade. Washington says all are backed by Iranian interests.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said that Captagon is “a source of funding for the Syrian regime and its backers, including Hezbollah”.

“The United States is steadfast in our commitment to disrupt Hezbollah’s access to the international financial system and its various methods of generating revenue, which the Iran-backed group uses to fund its violence,” he added.

Among those named in the latest sanctions is Khaldoun Hamieh, who Washington accuses of “controlling Captagon labs in the Syrian city of Sayyida Zainab, in an area that is largely under the control of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Hezbollah”.

The US accuses Mr Hamieh of working with “border crossing officials at the Lebanon-Syria border to transport Captagon from Lebanon into Jordan”.

A man displays fake oranges filled with Captagon pills that were intercepted in Beirut. AFP

Mr Hamieh has ties to the Fourth Division of the Syrian Arab Army, which Washington previously designated over “its role in violent repression of civilians in Syria”.

The new Captagon-related sanctions are a result of the Illicit Captagon Trafficking Suppression Act, which President Joe Biden signed into law this year, building on the landmark Captagon Act.

Republican Congressman French Hill of Arkansas, who has led US legislation aimed at combatting the Captagon trade, said it "proves that Congress is doing its job."

"We identified a problem, dug deeper, and noticed that the Biden-Harris administration is not doing enough to address and counter Assad's money machine," Mr Hill told The National.

"While I'm pleased the administration started implementing my bill today … more has to be done to address Captagon, which is further fuelling terror in the Middle East."

The sanctions indicate increasing tension between Washington and Tehran, as an Israeli ground invasion in Lebanon further destabilises the Middle East, sparking fears of a war between US-allied Israel and Iran.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said this week that indirect talks with the US have stalled because Tehran “does not see a basis” for them amid the heightened tension.

The Biden administration has been co-ordinating with Israel as it plans a response to Iran's strike on Tel Aviv, which followed the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut.

Earlier this year, a report on Captagon found that since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, there has been an sharp rise in seizures of the drug and violent smuggling operations.

Caroline Rose, a Captagon expert, told The National that “many Iran-aligned militias operating in Syria's south have played a role in recruiting for and supporting these smuggling operations”.

Mr Hill has made several official trips to the Middle East, including to north-west Syria, and he said that "US ambassadors and foreign officials all expressed that fighting the illicit trade and finance of this drug is a top priority".