Iran succeeded in evading US sanctions and transferred $200 million to Hezbollah last month, according to a report in Reuters on Tuesday.
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The money is expected to be used to support nearly 50,000 families displaced by fighting in Lebanon’s south, which translates into about $3,000 per family.
Iran has previously been able to secure large transfers even under US sanctions, with the US Treasury Department reporting nearly $1 billion was transferred in the first 10 months of 2025.
Recent US sanctions and increased pressure on Hezbollah have apparently translated into a significantly higher cost to transfer funds, with Reuters reporting that intermediaries charged a 20% fee on the transfer, reportedly four times higher than normal.
Hezbollah has been starved of funds in recent months, with its sources of funding shut off one by one by a combined US-Israeli effort targeting Hezbollah’s economic infrastructure which was used to launder billions of dollars for decades.
Hezbollah’s school network showed signs of financial stress when it raised tuition at its schools and offered incentives to parents for paying in dollars, i24NEWS reported in September.
Until the destruction and sanctioning of Hezbollah’s bank, the Al-Qard Al-Hassan Association, in 2024 and 2025, the organization could rely on modern money laundering methods; however, since then, Hezbollah has been forced to rely on the informal hawala system which allows brokers to transfer large amounts of money around the world without accessing modern financial systems.
The Hawala system dates back over 500 years and was originally aimed at supporting long-distance traders, in the modern world, it serves as a more secure system in less developed parts of the world as well as allowing users to avoid modern financial scrutiny, although most users and brokers are not involved in terrorism or criminality.
Brokers will often charge fees for the service of cash transfers. The reported 20% charge on transfers to Hezbollah shows that sanctions and pressure have penetrated deep into a system designed to avoid state oversight.