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Alleged Hezbollah Financier Extradited to US on Sanctions Evasion Charges

Hezbollah fighters hold their group flags, as they parade during a rally to mark Jerusalem day, in a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, April 14, 2023. (AP)
Hezbollah fighters hold their group flags, as they parade during a rally to mark Jerusalem day, in a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, April 14, 2023. (AP)
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Alleged Hezbollah Financier Extradited to US on Sanctions Evasion Charges

Hezbollah fighters hold their group flags, as they parade during a rally to mark Jerusalem day, in a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, April 14, 2023. (AP)
Hezbollah fighters hold their group flags, as they parade during a rally to mark Jerusalem day, in a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, April 14, 2023. (AP)

A dual Lebanese-Belgian citizen accused by the United States of financing Lebanon's Hezbollah has been extradited from Romania and faced sanctions evasion and money laundering charges on Wednesday in Brooklyn federal court, prosecutors said.

Mohammad Bazzi, who Washington says has provided millions of dollars to Hezbollah, was arrested in February on charges of covertly selling real estate he owned in Michigan and transferring the funds abroad, violating US sanctions laws.

Bazzi was extradited on Tuesday, and pleaded not guilty in a Wednesday court hearing before US Magistrate Judge Peggy Kuo, according to a spokesman for the US Attorney's office in Brooklyn. He was ordered detained pending trial.

The US Treasury Department placed Bazzi, 58, on its sanctions list in 2018 over his alleged ties to Hezbollah, which Washington considers a terrorist organization.

Lawyers for Bazzi did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Prosecutors in Brooklyn last week charged another alleged Hezbollah financier, Nazem Ahmad, with evading US sanctions by exporting hundreds of millions of dollars of diamonds and art.

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Huge Dust Storm Sweeps Into Iran, Affecting Millions

Vehicles drive past an anti-Israel banner showing numerous locations in Israel as a Yemeni dagger (jambiya) with writing in Farsi reading: "All targets are within range, Yemeni missiles for now!", and in Hebrew "All targets are within reach, we will choose", at the Felestin (Palestine) Sq. in downtown Tehran, Iran, Monday, May 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Vehicles drive past an anti-Israel banner showing numerous locations in Israel as a Yemeni dagger (jambiya) with writing in Farsi reading: "All targets are within range, Yemeni missiles for now!", and in Hebrew "All targets are within reach, we will choose", at the Felestin (Palestine) Sq. in downtown Tehran, Iran, Monday, May 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
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Huge Dust Storm Sweeps Into Iran, Affecting Millions

Vehicles drive past an anti-Israel banner showing numerous locations in Israel as a Yemeni dagger (jambiya) with writing in Farsi reading: "All targets are within range, Yemeni missiles for now!", and in Hebrew "All targets are within reach, we will choose", at the Felestin (Palestine) Sq. in downtown Tehran, Iran, Monday, May 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Vehicles drive past an anti-Israel banner showing numerous locations in Israel as a Yemeni dagger (jambiya) with writing in Farsi reading: "All targets are within range, Yemeni missiles for now!", and in Hebrew "All targets are within reach, we will choose", at the Felestin (Palestine) Sq. in downtown Tehran, Iran, Monday, May 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Iranian authorities ordered schools and offices closed in seven western provinces Tuesday as a dust storm swept in from neighboring Iraq, with around 13 million people told to stay indoors.

Khuzestan, Kermanshah, Ilam and Kurdistan provinces were all affected, and state television cited local officials as blaming the closures on high levels of accumulated dust, AFP reported.

Government and private offices also shut in several provinces including Kermanshah and Ilam, as well as Khuzestan in the southwest.

Zanjan in the northeast and Bushehr in the south were also hit.

Bushehr, nearly 1,100 kilometers (680 miles) south of Tehran, was given an Air Quality Index of 108 on Tuesday, rated "poor for sensitive groups".

That figure is more than four times higher than the concentration of air microparticles deemed acceptable by the World Health Organization.

Iran's meteorological authorities said the conditions were caused by "the movement of a large mass of dust from Iraq towards western Iran".

State television reported low visibility in some areas and urged residents to remain inside and to wear face masks if they had to go out.

Last month, a similar dust storm in Iraq grounded flights and sent thousands of people to hospital with breathing problems.

On Monday, Iran's IRNA state news agency reported that more than 240 people in Khuzestan province had been treated for respiratory issues because of the dust.