The US Treasury has redesignated Hezbollah for service to the Iranian regime, under the command of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps – Quds Force (IRGC-QF). The redesignation is pursuant to Executive Order 13224, as amended. Hezbollah is now considered owned, controlled, or directed by or having acted on behalf of the IRGC.

The Treasury also sanctioned 10 individuals accused of transferring cash to Hezbollah. The Iranian-backed group was already designated as an FTO and SDGT; the novelty is the formal finding that it acts under IRGC-QF command. The redesignation formally shifts the United States’s framing of Hezbollah: from an Iran-backed Lebanese terror group to an Iranian-controlled foreign instrument operating from Lebanese territory.

From Iranian proxy to arm

There has long been consensus that Hezbollah is between support and direction when it comes to its relationship with Iran’s IRGC. Previous US intelligence assessments attributed Iran to have funded, armed, and trained the group.

The new designation now presents the relationship as one of command-and-control. This subsequently collapses the political distinction Hezbollah has relied on, being a Lebanese entity defending Lebanese territory. It also recasts its strategic autonomy as null or limited.

Integrating Hezbollah into the Iran file

Hezbollah’s arsenal can now be framed as part of the IRGC military infrastructure, and not as an internal Lebanese issue. This, therefore, increases pressure on the Lebanese government to disarm Hezbollah and sever its financial, political, and military infrastructure, in line with the US’s ‘anaconda strategy’ against Iran.

It gives Washington a stronger political basis to describe any Hezbollah action or attack against its allies as an Iranian action by foreign arm. It also strengthens Israel’s longstanding argument that strikes against Hezbollah are part of confronting Iran’s forward military posture. Washington’s latest move formally integrates Hezbollah into its Iran file. However, it falls short of authorizing US military action against the group; despite the basis for establishing deterrence against an Iranian arm operating outside of Iranian territory.