US sanctions 10 over alleged Hezbollah cash-courier network

The United States imposed sanctions on 10 people on August 20, 2026, alleging they took part in a cash-courier network that moved money to Hezbollah through commercial flights linking Iran, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Lebanon.

The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said the network enabled the Lebanese group to obtain foreign currency outside formal banking channels and evade existing sanctions. The allegations have not been independently adjudicated, and the people named in the action were not quoted responding to them.

According to the Treasury account reported by The Guardian, Turkish businessman Yunus Alper Yilmaz was accused of overseeing the operation and using Turkey-based currency exchanges, shell companies and bank accounts connected to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force. The department also designated Halil Ibrahim Kacmaz and Onder Dede, whom it accused of collecting cash, and Vasfi Akyuz, described as a logistics coordinator and courier.

Six other people — Mehmet Akyuz, Mehmet Acur, Feyyad Karasalih, Masoud Mousafar, Gulay Kaya Savci and Emrah Ayaz — were accused of carrying cash to Lebanon aboard commercial flights.

U.S. officials linked the network to a financing arrangement formerly associated with Behnam Shahriyari, a deceased Quds Force financial official. The State Department said the investigation was coordinated with Turkish authorities.

The sanctions freeze any property or interests in property held by the designated individuals in the United States or under the control of U.S. persons. They also generally prohibit Americans from conducting transactions with them.

Washington also re-designated Hezbollah as a “specially designated global terrorist,” according to the report, citing alleged coordination between the group and the Quds Force. The action comes amid heightened regional tensions involving Israel, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon and Iran.