Who Dragged Lebanon to the Blacklist?

Hezbollah and the Iranian Regime First… and the Lebanese State is a Silent Accomplice

✍️ By: Dr. Abdelaziz Tarekji

In a highly dangerous development, the European Union has added Lebanon to its list of “high-risk” countries in the fields of money laundering and terrorism financing. This decision, which carries implications far beyond its technical scope, touches on Lebanon’s sovereignty and national security. It does not come out of nowhere. Lebanon, once dubbed “the Switzerland of the East,” is now a quasi-collapsed state—economically devastated, financially isolated, and politically besieged—due to the full-scale Iranian hegemony executed through its local arm: Hezbollah.

Hezbollah: The Main Gateway to State Collapse
The primary party responsible for Lebanon’s descent is Hezbollah, which has transformed the state into a facade and sovereignty into an illusion. Ever since the party seized Lebanon’s sovereign decision-making—backed, funded, and directed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)—the country has become a testing ground for Tehran’s regional ambitions. No borders are respected, no international resolutions are enforced, and no foreign policy is run from Beirut—but from Qom or the southern suburbs of Beirut.
Hezbollah stands internationally accused of arms smuggling, drug trafficking, money laundering, and financing terrorism across multiple continents. Lebanon’s inclusion on the EU’s blacklist is a natural consequence of the presence of an armed group operating outside the law, flooding legitimate institutions with parallel financial networks beyond any national or international oversight.

Iran: The Hidden Occupation
Lebanon is no longer merely a sphere of Iranian influence; it has officially become a state politically and militarily occupied by the Iranian regime through its local proxy. This Iranian presence manifests not only in weaponry and political control but also in a shadow economy, alternative security and military structures, an imposed cultural narrative, and assassinations targeting every free voice that dared expose this occupation.
What we are witnessing today is a direct application of the “IRGC model” of governance: undermining the state, building a parallel economy, indoctrinating society, and liquefying sovereignty until the nation becomes stateless.

The Lebanese State: An Accomplice Through Silence and Inaction
But the ruling Lebanese class cannot be exonerated. Through silence at times and complicity at others, it enabled Hezbollah to establish a state within the state—then a state instead of the state.
Where was the state in the assassinations of Lokman Slim, Gebran Tueni, Samir Kassir, and Mohammad Chatah?
Where was the state in the Beirut port explosion investigation?
Where was the state when Captagon was smuggled to the Gulf?
Where was the state when hundreds of illegal financial shipments were leaving Beirut Airport?
The state’s failure to control its borders, reclaim its decision-making authority, and hold the instruments of hegemony accountable has turned it from a victim to an active accomplice in institutional collapse and regional mistrust.

Europe and the World Raise the Red Card… Who Will Stop the Bleeding?
The EU’s decision is a resounding slap to all those who claim that Hezbollah is “part of Lebanon’s fabric,” or that Iran is “a partner in stability.” The world no longer tolerates Lebanon’s political hypocrisy or the duality in dealing with legitimacy.

Today, Lebanon stands at a critical crossroads:
Either it liberates itself from Iranian domination, Or it falls completely into isolation, sanctions, famine, and total collapse.

Conclusion: Salvation Begins by Breaking the Hegemony
Lebanon will never be saved unless Hezbollah is disarmed, its ties with the Iranian agenda are severed, national sovereignty is fully restored, and the political class is held accountable for its long-standing complicity.
Nations are not built on deals over ashes, but through direct confrontation with occupation—whatever its tools, whatever its flags.

✍️ Dr. Abdelaziz Tarekji
Researcher in International Human Rights Violations
Investigative Journalist and Counter-Terrorism Specialist