Oil smuggling and money laundering, Quds Force and Hezbollah banned

According to Brian Nelson, the United States will continue to strictly enforce sanctions on Iran's illicit oil trade.

The United States has designated Quds Force, a subsidiary of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, as an "international network for oil smuggling and money laundering." 

The Revolutionary Guards facilitated the sale of tens of millions of dollars worth of oil to the Quds Force and Hezbollah. 

Implementation will continue. He added that similar sanctions could be imposed on those who buy oil from Iran. 

"The sanctions are an important step," said Rawan Rajoula, a Washington-based expert on Middle East and North Africa affairs. 

"This is an important step, but the administration should keep Hezbollah and its allies in check," he said. 

Hezbollah, which controls Lebanon's energy ministry, recently took advantage of Lebanon's energy problems to gain preferential access to markets for its masters in Tehran. 

He said Algeria's state-owned company, Sona Tarak, was responsible for sending oil to Lebanon, but that its departure had exacerbated energy problems in the country. 

Hezbollah used the chaos to gain access to Iran's energy market in Beirut, according to prosecutors.