Iran’s elite Quds Force has secretly funneled more than one billion dollars to Hezbollah through the United Arab Emirates since January, according to a Wall Street Journal report that cites U.S. Treasury officials. The revelation exposes one of the largest known financial lifelines Tehran has funneled to its most powerful regional proxy, and underscores the scale of Iran’s efforts to rebuild Hezbollah after its devastating war with Israel.

The Quds Force, the foreign-operations arm of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, has kept Hezbollah afloat despite sanctions, regional surveillance and the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria, which once served as the primary conduit for Iranian cash.

“Hezbollah is highly focused now on rebuilding,” said David Schenker, director of the Program on Arab Politics at the Washington Institute. “Iran is not backing away from its commitment to its premier regional proxy.”

Analysts note that one billion dollars once represented Hezbollah’s entire annual operating budget, but after extensive losses in its escalating conflict with Israel, the group “needs a lot more,” said Hanin Ghaddar, a senior fellow at the institute.

To bypass broken or monitored routes, Tehran has leaned heavily on financial networks inside the UAE. The Journal reports that proceeds from Iranian oil sales are routed to exchange houses, private companies, businessmen and couriers in Dubai. Those intermediaries then transfer the funds to Lebanese smugglers who deliver the money to Hezbollah and settle accounts later. U.S. officials are also concerned that Iran is now shifting supplemental cash transfers through Turkey and Iraq, expanding the geography of the smuggling pipeline.

The UAE, which has long battled accusations of serving as a hub for illicit finance, pushed back in comments to the newspaper. A government official insisted the country is “committed to preventing misuse of its territory for illicit finance” and is working with international partners to disrupt such activity.

The newly exposed operation adds to Hezbollah’s already vast global funding network, which includes narcotics trafficking, diamond smuggling, and international money laundering — revenue streams that have helped the group long evade sanctions and maintain military capacity.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)