Trump said these sanctions will be followed up with even more sanctions to address the full range of Iran’s “malign conduct”.
“We will not allow the world’s leading sponsor of terror to develop the world’s deadliest weapons. Will not happen,” he said.
Moments earlier, Trump signed into law the Hezbollah International Financing Prevention Amendments Act (HIFPAA) of 2018, which imposes additional hard-hitting sanctions on Hezbollah.
“Hezbollah has kidnapped, tortured, and murdered American citizens, including in its brutal attack in 1983 on our Marine Barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, which killed 241 American Marines, Sailors, and Soldiers, wounded 128 other American service members, and killed a Lebanese civilian. “Another bombing against the French barracks killed 58 French peacekeepers and five Lebanese civilians, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said.The legislation, Sanders said, will further isolate Hezbollah from the international financial system and reduce its funding.
These sanctions will target foreign persons and government agencies that knowingly assist or support Hezbollah, and Hezbollah-affiliated networks that engage in drug trafficking or other transnational crime, she said.
During a White House event Thursday night to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the attack in Beirut on the Marine Barracks with survivors and family members of the victims, Trump said over the past year, his administration has levied the highest number of sanctions ever imposed on Hezbollah in a single year, by far.
“Just a few moments ago I signed legislation imposing even more hard-hitting sanctions on Hezbollah to further starve them of them of their funds. And they are starving of funds,” he said.
“We will target, disrupt, and dismantle their operational and financing networks of which they had plenty. They don’t have plenty now. And we will never forget what they did to our great Marines in Beirut. We will never forget,” the US president said.
