The U.S. Department of the Treasury said these individuals obstructed the “Lebanese peace process” and blocked efforts toward “Hezbollah’s disarmament.”
Mohammad-Reza Shibani Rauf, Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon, was declared persona non grata by Lebanon’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs two months ago and expelled from the country. The ministry accused him of making “interventionist remarks regarding Lebanon’s domestic politics.”
Earlier reports said the expelled official had refused to leave Lebanon, while Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said he would continue his work. However, it is still unclear whether he remains in Lebanon or has left the country.
On April 22, during the 40th-day memorial service for Ali Khamenei, the deceased Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, Iranian media published a photograph of Shibani Rauf at the Iranian Embassy in Beirut.
The U.S. Treasury notice said the sanctioned individuals are pro-Hezbollah Lebanese officials working in the country’s parliament, military, and security agencies. According to American officials, they are “attempting to maintain the influence of this Iran-backed terrorist group over key Lebanese state institutions.”
