Hezbollah: Any Truce Must Swiftly End Fighting, Preserve Lebanese Sovereignty

A Lebanese army inspection team checks destruction at the site of an overnight Israeli airstrike that targeted one of their positions in the southern Lebanese coastal town of Sarafand on November 20, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP)
A Lebanese army inspection team checks destruction at the site of an overnight Israeli airstrike that targeted one of their positions in the southern Lebanese coastal town of Sarafand on November 20, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP)
TT
20

Hezbollah: Any Truce Must Swiftly End Fighting, Preserve Lebanese Sovereignty

A Lebanese army inspection team checks destruction at the site of an overnight Israeli airstrike that targeted one of their positions in the southern Lebanese coastal town of Sarafand on November 20, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP)
A Lebanese army inspection team checks destruction at the site of an overnight Israeli airstrike that targeted one of their positions in the southern Lebanese coastal town of Sarafand on November 20, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP)

A Hezbollah official said on Wednesday that any US-brokered ceasefire deal between the group and Israel must end fighting swiftly and must preserve Lebanon's sovereignty, an apparent reference to Israel's stance that it will keep striking the Iran-backed group even with a truce in place.

Speaking to Hezbollah media, Mahmoud Qmati said that he was neither overly optimistic nor overly pessimistic about the prospects of a truce.

The US proposal could see Israeli ground forces leave Lebanon and Hezbollah militants withdraw away from the Israeli border. More Lebanese army troops and UN peacekeepers would be sent to a buffer zone in southern Lebanon as part of the deal.

But CNN has reported that an Israeli source familiar with the talks cast doubt on the likelihood of an imminent deal, noting that Hezbollah’s refusal to accept Israel’s demand for the right to strike the group in the event of a ceasefire violation could jeopardize the process. Without this clause, the source said, it was uncertain whether Israel’s prime minister could get cabinet approval for the agreement.

Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel the day after the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 in what it said was solidarity with the Palestinians. Israel launched retaliatory airstrikes, and all-out war erupted in September.

Israeli bombardment has killed more than 3,500 people in Lebanon and wounded almost 15,000, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. It also displaced nearly 1.2 million, or a quarter of Lebanon’s population. On the Israeli side, 87 soldiers and 50 civilians have been killed by rockets, drones and missiles, and tens of thousands of Israelis have been evacuated from homes near the border.

Hezbollah said its chief Sheikh Naim Qassem would give a speech Wednesday, a day after cancelling a similar announcement.

A statement from the group announced the speech by Qassem would be "today," without specifying a time.



US Imposes Fresh Sanctions Targeting Iran Oil Trade, Hezbollah

Supporters of Hezbollah carry flags of Hezbollah as they shout slogans during a celebration organized by Hezbollah in front of the Iranian Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, 25 June 2025. (EPA)
Supporters of Hezbollah carry flags of Hezbollah as they shout slogans during a celebration organized by Hezbollah in front of the Iranian Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, 25 June 2025. (EPA)
TT
20

US Imposes Fresh Sanctions Targeting Iran Oil Trade, Hezbollah

Supporters of Hezbollah carry flags of Hezbollah as they shout slogans during a celebration organized by Hezbollah in front of the Iranian Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, 25 June 2025. (EPA)
Supporters of Hezbollah carry flags of Hezbollah as they shout slogans during a celebration organized by Hezbollah in front of the Iranian Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, 25 June 2025. (EPA)

The US imposed sanctions on Thursday against a network that smuggles Iranian oil disguised as Iraqi oil and on a Hezbollah-controlled financial institution, the Treasury Department said.

A network of companies run by Iraqi-British national Salim Ahmed Said has been buying and shipping billions of dollars worth of Iranian oil disguised as, or blended with, Iraqi oil since at least 2020, the department said.

"Treasury will continue to target Tehran’s revenue sources and intensify economic pressure to disrupt the regime’s access to the financial resources that fuel its destabilizing activities," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.

The US has imposed waves of sanctions on Iran's oil exports over its nuclear program and funding of militant groups across the Middle East.

Reuters reported late last year that a fuel-oil smuggling network that generates at least $1 billion a year for Iran and its proxies has flourished in Iraq since 2022.

Thursday's sanctions came after the US carried out strikes on June 22 on three Iranian nuclear sites including its most deeply buried enrichment plant, Fordow. The Pentagon said on Wednesday the strikes had degraded Iran's nuclear program by up to two years, despite a far more cautious initial assessment that had leaked to the public.

The US and Iran were expected to hold talks about its nuclear program next week in Oslo, Axios reported.

Said’s companies and vessels blend Iranian oil with Iraqi oil, which is then sold to Western buyers via Iraq or the United Arab Emirates as purely Iraqi oil using forged documentation to avoid sanctions, Treasury said.

Said controls UAE-based company VS Tankers though he avoids formal association with it, Treasury said. Formerly known as Al-Iraqia Shipping Services & Oil Trading (AISSOT), VS Tankers has smuggled oil for the benefit of the Iranian government and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which is designated by Washington as a terrorist organization, it said.

The sanctions block US assets of those designated and prevent Americans from doing business with them.

VS Tankers denied Treasury's assertions and said it will "pursue all legal remedies as necessary." Iran's mission in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The US also sanctioned several vessels that are accused of engaging in the covert delivery of Iranian oil, intensifying pressure on Iran’s "shadow fleet," it said.

The Treasury Department also issued sanctions against several senior officials and one entity associated with the Hezbollah-controlled financial institution Al-Qard Al-Hassan.

The officials, the department said, conducted millions of dollars in transactions that ultimately benefited, but obscured, Hezbollah.