US official alleges Hezbollah stashed ammonium nitrate throughout Europe

The EU designated Hezbollah’s military wing as a terrorist organization in July 2013, after Hezbollah members blew up an Israeli tourist bus in Bulgaria. 

In 2015, the effects of the ruling were demonstrated when a Lebanese national named Hussein Bassam Abdallah was sentenced in Cyprus to six years in prison for participating in a terrorist group and plotting violence after it was discovered he had assembled more than 8 tons of ammonium nitrate.

The United Kingdom and Germany already recognize Hezbollah’s political wing as a terrorist group. But some European governments do not consider group’s political wing a terrorist group, something Sales said the US government would like to see changed.

The Trump administration is engaged in what it calls a “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran and the militias and organizations it supports abroad. The Trump administration unilaterally withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran amid accusations Tehran had exploited the deal to expand its influence in the region via proxy militias and ballistic missile development.

The Trump administration has praised recent decisions by Lithuania, Kosovo and Serbia to designate Hezbollah as a whole as a terrorist group. Sales on Thursday also lauded moves by Argentina, Paraguay and Honduras to designate or ban the group over the last two years.

Earlier this week, the US Treasury rolled out sanctions on 47 individuals and entities that it said were likely associated with Hezbollah. The move followed sanctions on two former Lebanese officials accused of providing political favors to the group.

“Hezbollah itself has been perfectly clear, that they do not themselves recognize the distinction between their terrorist operations and so-called political branch,” Sales said, adding, “Our sanctions against Hezbollah are and always have been directed at the entirety of the organization.”

Sales said that US efforts to cut off Hezbollah’s funding streams recently led the group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, to solicit donations.

“By starving these organizations of resources, you prevent them from committing acts of mass murder,” he said.