Amid US-Iran tensions, economic crisis are deepening now in Lebanon after Washington slapped sanctions on the Iran-backed Hezbollah and warned they could soon expand to its allies. The Trump administration has intensified sanctions on the Lebanese militant group and institutions linked to it to unprecedented levels, targeting lawmakers for the first time as well as a local bank that Washington claims has ties to the group.
Tough Sanctions, Then a Mysterious Last-Minute Turnabout
The Treasury Department slapped sanctions on the Israeli billionaire Dan Gertler in 2017 for corruption in Africa. In Donald Trump’s final days in office, they were rolled back with no explanation.
Dan Gertler, an Israeli billionaire, at an open-pit mining operation in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The sanctions rollback has left the Biden administration scrambling to determine whether it can be reversed.Credit.Simon Dawson/Bloomberg
Feb. 21, 2021
WASHINGTON In early December, an Israeli billionaire named Dan Gertler made an unusual request to the Treasury Department.
A mining magnate who had been accused for years of corruption in deals he struck with leaders of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mr. Gertler had been slapped with stiff sanctions by the Trump administration in 2017, effectively cutting off his access to the international banking system and freezing money held in U.S. banks.