US, Persian Gulf Arab states impose sanctions on top Hezbollah officials

The U.S. and its Gulf allies on Wednesday announced sanctions against Islamist militant political party Hezbollah, citing its involvement with Iran.
On the website of the U.S. Treasury Department indicated that the sanctions will affect the leader "Hezbollah" Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah and neem Kassem, as well as several members of the Executive Committee of the terrorist organization.
Coming after the Trump administration withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal on May 8, the US Treasury said Wednesdays actions are part of a efforts to go after "the totality of Iran's malign activities and regionally destabilizing behavior, including that of Hezbollah". "By targeting Hizballah's Shura Council, our nations collectively rejected the false distinction between a so-called "Political Wing" and Hizballah's global terrorist plotting", said Secretary of the Treasury Steven T. Mnuchin.
The announcement by the GCC came shortly after the US Treasury imposed



additional sanctions on Nasrallah and Qassem.
Meanwhile, the new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem has enraged the Palestinian Authority, as well as militant group Hamaz, which has ties to Iran and Hezbollah.
The measures were imposed jointly by Washington and its partners in the Terrorist Financing and Targeting Center, or TFTC, which include Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and United Arab Emirates, it said.
A number of those targeted by the TFTC had been previously blacklisted by the United States.
Shi'ite Hezbollah was formed to combat Israel's 1982-2000 occupation of Lebanon.
The governments in their statement criticized Hezbollah as destabilizing the region with Iran that supports it. The Lebanon-based group is backed by Iran.
The move comes one day after the Treasury Department slapped sanctions on the governor of Iran's central bank, alleging it had funneled funds to Hezbollah, which the US considers a terrorist group.