Today, Thursday, the US Treasury Department imposed new sanctions on two companies and one individual, for their links with the Lebanese Hezbollah, while the State Department imposed sanctions on a company and a group of dozens of people under the pretext of linking to Iranian intelligence.

The sanctions included the "Ark" and "Meamar" companies, which are headquartered in Lebanon and owned or managed by Hezbollah, in addition to Sultan Khalifa Asad, an official in the Executive Council of Hezbollah, who has ties to the two companies.

The Treasury statement added that Hezbollah is using the companies to disguise its money transfers to its private accounts.

The statement indicated that Hezbollah is in contact with a number of Lebanese officials in order to award government contracts worth millions of dollars to companies supervised by the party.

US Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin said Hezbollah was exploiting the Lebanese economy and mobilizing corrupt Lebanese officials to award government contracts to its companies.

He added, "The United States remains committed to targeting Hezbollah and its supporters, because they are corruptly exploiting Lebanese resources to enrich their leaders, while the Lebanese people suffer from insufficient services."

The US State Department also announced the imposition of sanctions on a group supported by the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence, which consists of 45 people, as well as on the "Rana" intelligence company.

The ministry indicated in a statement that the sanctions came after the group carried out "electronic" cyber attacks targeting at least 15 countries in the Middle East and North Africa, and hundreds of individuals and entities in 30 different countries.

The Foreign Ministry added that Iranian intelligence uses that group to pursue and target Iranian opposition citizens, in addition to journalists, refugees and international non-governmental organization staff.

Earlier this month, a US decision to blacklist two former Lebanese ministers was issued against accusations that they had worked to empower Hezbollah, and Washington warned that it would take more measures targeting the party.