ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on nine individuals in Lebanon, including members of parliament, as well as military and intelligence officials, accusing them of supporting Hezbollah, obstructing the peace process, and impeding efforts to disarm the Iran-backed group.

The sanctions, announced by the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), targeted figures linked to Hezbollah across Lebanon’s political, military, and security sectors.

“These Hezbollah-aligned officials include individuals embedded across Lebanon’s parliament, military, and security sectors, where they seek to preserve the Iran-backed terrorist group’s influence over key Lebanese state institutions,” the Treasury Department said in a statement, adding that Hezbollah’s “continued militant activity and coercive influence undermines the Lebanese state.”

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Hezbollah “must be fully disarmed.”

“Treasury will continue to take action against officials who have infiltrated the Lebanese government and are enabling Hezbollah to wage its senseless campaign of violence against the Lebanese people and obstruct lasting peace,” Bessent said.

Among those sanctioned were Lebanese lawmakers and senior Hezbollah officials Mohamed Abdel-Mottaleb Fanich, Hassan Fadlallah, Ibrahim al-Moussawi, and Hussein al-Hajj Hassan, whom Washington accused of advancing Hezbollah’s political agenda and opposing calls for the group’s disarmament.

In addition, the Treasury sanctioned personnel from what it dubbed "Lebanon’s legitimate security organizations," namely: Brigadier General Khattar Nasser Eldin of Lebanon’s General Directorate for General Security and Colonel Samir Hamadi of the Lebanese Armed Forces intelligence branch, accusing them of sharing intelligence with Hezbollah during the conflict over the past year.

The sanctions also targeted Iranian diplomat Mohammad Reza Sheibani, identified by the US as Iran’s ambassador-designate to Lebanon.

The Treasury said Lebanon’s foreign ministry had declared him persona non grata and ordered him to leave Beirut over alleged violations of diplomatic norms.

Also sanctioned were Amal Movement security officials Ahmad Asaad Baalbaki and Ali Ahmad Safawi, with Washington describing Amal as a political ally and security partner of Hezbollah.

Hezbollah was designated by the US as a foreign terrorist organization in 1997 and as a specially designated global terrorist entity in 2001.

Washington has repeatedly pushed for the group's disarmament and the country's sole armed instiution being the official Lebanese security apparatus, with Beirut's failure to implement a disarmament plan having served as an Israeli justification for continued strikes on its northern neighbor despite the existence of a US-backed ceasefire.