A senior Iraqi official said he rebuffed a request from Iran in late August to grant “extraordinary facilities” at a western border crossing for the transfer of large sums of cash to Lebanon’s Hezbollah via Syria, citing political and security risks.
The official, who spoke to Asharq Al-Awsat on condition of anonymity, said Tehran had assured him its networks inside Syria could handle the onward transfer. “They told us, ‘We have people who can deliver it to Damascus. Iraqis should not worry about that,’” the official said.
Cross-border sources in Syria and Lebanon said Iranian efforts to funnel funds to Hezbollah – under mounting pressure from US and Lebanese demands to disarm – have intensified in recent weeks, with some shipments reportedly making it through with the help of smuggling networks.
Washington is now tracking financial channels that may have moved millions of dollars into Hezbollah’s coffers, according to regional security sources.
Hezbollah, facing strains within its Shi’ite support base, is seeking fresh resources to shore up loyalty and rebuild military strength, Lebanese political figures say.
A US Republican senator, Lindsey Graham, told Lebanese lawmakers last month that Washington had intelligence showing Hezbollah received fresh injections of cash, and he warned the US was probing how the transfers took place.
Iran, bracing for what it calls an inevitable new war with Israel, has instructed allied militias to explore new ways to sustain Hezbollah, Iraqi Shi’ite political leaders told Asharq Al-Awsat.
“It is a mistake to assume Iran will go into the next confrontation without deep, resilient defensive lines in the region, especially in Lebanon,” one said.
The push reflects Tehran’s difficulties in Iraq, where Shi’ite factions face tighter restrictions and are increasingly hesitant to act openly under the “axis of resistance” banner. “The room for maneuver in Baghdad is clearly shrinking,” a senior Shi’ite leader said.
Iraqi security officials said the al-Qaim crossing, near the Syrian town of al-Bukamal, has been under close US surveillance and is considered too risky for covert financial transfers. The area is already known as a “drone playground” for US forces and others, making suspicious movements hard to conceal.
Smuggling routes across the Iraq-Syria frontier – long controlled by Shi’ite groups, remnants of Assad’s forces, ISIS fighters, and other networks – remain active, but Syrian officials insist no cash shipments have crossed through official gateways.
Lebanese analysts say Hezbollah has recently shown a tougher stance on disarmament, reversing earlier signals of compliance, a shift they link to possible fresh funding. While the group has limited its public spending to repairing homes in Beirut’s southern suburbs, many believe it is stockpiling cash for the next war.
The US Treasury has repeatedly announced fresh measures to choke off Iranian financing, and in 2022 estimated Tehran supplied Hezbollah with up to $700 million annually. Hezbollah’s former leader, Hassan Nasrallah, had openly boasted in 2016 that Iran was its primary source of funding.
Despite Israeli strikes targeting financiers and couriers between Iran, Iraq and Lebanon, regional sources say Tehran and Hezbollah continue to preserve alternative routes for money transfers.
Lebanese security officials admit sealing the porous Syrian border remains difficult, with vast stretches open and the under-resourced Lebanese army struggling to block illicit crossings.
