October 8, 2026
The file of Iranian funds attributed to Hezbollah, worth $200 million, entered the American political debate again, after Lebanese Forces Party official Joseph Gebaili criticized the statements of US State Department spokesman Tommy Pigot, in which he considered these reports “false stories.”
Pigot had denied the validity of the reports about the arrival of Iranian funds, describing them as stories promoted by “Hezbollah” through anonymous sources to save face, and stressing that “the money does not exist.” He pointed out that Iranian oil exports are subject to increasing pressure, and that the Iranian currency is witnessing a decline, stressing Washington’s commitment to continuing to target the party’s funding sources with sanctions, in addition to supporting the Lebanese government in its efforts to rebuild the south.
On the other hand, Joseph Gebaili, in a post on the “X” platform, expressed his surprise at the US State Department’s position, considering that it contradicts the official statements issued by the US Treasury Department regarding the continuation of Iranian financial transfers to the party. Gebaili cited three Treasury statements: The first was issued on September 10, 2026 and indicated that Lebanese money changers transferred hundreds of millions of dollars from the “Quds Force” to “Hezbollah” between May and September 2025. The second was on August 20 of the same year and targeted a network capable of transferring similar amounts between Iran, Lebanon, Turkey and the UAE. The third on October 6, 2025 confirmed that the “Quds Force” had transferred more than a billion dollars to the party since January of that year, mainly through exchange companies. Despite his adherence to the general contradiction between the State Department and the Treasury, Jebaili acknowledged that the specific transfer of $200 million may be a matter of debate, but he believed that the absolute denial of Iranian transfers contradicted the Treasury’s facts.
The roots of the story go back to a report published by Reuters on October 7, based on two people directly familiar with the transfer, which stated that Iran sent $200 million to Hezbollah during September with the aim of helping the Lebanese displaced by the war. According to the report, the funds were allocated to disburse a first payment of $3,000 to about 50,000 families, with priority given to families whose villages were destroyed or inaccessible.
The Reuters report explained that the intermediaries who transferred the money received a commission of 20 percent, a rate equivalent to four times the usual rate, as a result of the increasing difficulties in transfer operations, the inability to use traditional channels through Iraq and Dubai, in addition to the exposure of other channels to pressure in Turkey.
It is noteworthy that Reuters did not present documents proving the transfer process, while a Hezbollah official contented himself with confirming that a sum of money had been secured and announcing a plan to distribute it in the coming days without specifying its source, which kept the story of the $200 million based on the statements of the two sources, and without providing independent confirmation of the source of the sum or the path of its arrival.
