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On June 27, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced the seizure of digital wallets with millions of dollars in cryptocurrency that belonged to both Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force and Lebanese Hezbollah.
Gallant said at a conference hosted by the ministry’s National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing (NBCTF) that the funds were being used for “terrorism” and the seizure constitutes the first of its kind for Israel.
“A few days ago, an extensive and precedent-setting operation — to expose a route for financing terror with digital currencies — was wrapped up. This is the first incident of this magnitude, in which an infrastructure led by Hezbollah and the Iranian Quds Force that transferred millions of dollars to be used by terror elements was thwarted,” Gallant said.
Gallant claimed that the Quds Force, Hezbollah and what he called “Syrian elements” had used cryptocurrency to fund their daily activities. The funds come from a third party, and are transferred over via money exchangers, the minister explained.
“Whoever finances terror, or maintains a financial relationship with terror operatives, must know that he is a target, just like anyone who directs terrorism,” Gallant said. “As you can see, this time too there is a clear line behind the terror [financing] moves that originate in Iran. Iran is the financier, trainer, and spreader of terrorism against Israel and many countries around the world, both directly and through its proxies at the borders.”
According to the minister, the NBCTF developed new tools in cooperation with the Israeli military, intelligence and security services in order to combat financing of what he called “terrorist groups” using cryptocurrency.
“I issued an order that allowed the seizure of the funds, their confiscation, and the transfer of the money to the treasury of the State of Israel. In doing so, we have actually cut off the flow of terror funds along this route,” Gallant said.
The Iranian government has not yet made any comment on the claims made by the Israeli defense minister, nor has Hezbollah.
In the past, dozens of digital wallets linked to the Hamas Movement and other Palestinian factions were seized by Israel. Israeli authorities are now working to more strictly regulate cryptocurrency, which are hard to trace.
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