Lebanon seizes $2.5M destined for Hezbollah after stopping man at airport in 'unprecedented' bust
A man allegedly carrying $2.5 million in cash destined for the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah reportedly was detained Friday at Beirut's airport in a bust that an expert told Fox News Digital is "unprecedented."
"The detainee and the seized funds will be handed over to the investigation division at the General Directorate of General Security," Lebanon's finance ministry said in a statement obtained by Reuters, which cited sources saying that the man had been traveling from Turkey.
"The $2.5 million dollar seizure is unprecedented," David Daoud, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital.
"We haven't seen anything like this. Now, this does track though the fact this money is coming in from Turkey, this does track with Israeli claims that Turkey is being used as a conduit by the Iranians to get more funds to Hezbollah," Daoud continued.
"Plausibly, this is one thing that got caught – how many cash transfers are getting through the dragnet?" he also said.
The money the individual was carrying was bound for Hezbollah, which has been weakened recently by Israel's military, sources told Reuters.
"While Hezbollah's military capabilities were significantly reduced during the war, they are now attempting to regain strength and rearm with the assistance of Iran," Israel's U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon was quoted by Reuters as telling the U.N. Security Council last month.
There was no immediate reaction from Hezbollah on Friday.
Since the onset of Israel's war against Hamas, the Israel Defense Forces engaged in cross-border skirmishes with Hezbollah – including ground operations on Lebanese soil – until a ceasefire deal was struck late last year.
Former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in Lebanon by an Israeli airstrike in September.
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'This Week' Transcript 6-15-25: Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Israeli Ambassador to the United States Yechiel Leiter & Retired Gen. Joseph Votel
A rush transcript of "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" airing on Sunday, June 15, 2025 on ABC News is below. This copy may not be in its final form, may be updated and may contain minor transcription errors. For previous show transcripts, visit the "This Week" transcript archive. MARTHA RADDATZ, ABC "THIS WEEK" CO-ANCHOR: And we are joined now in studio by the Israeli ambassador to the United States, Yechiel Leiter. Good morning, Ambassador. Give us the latest on last night's attack. Missiles seem to be getting through. The Iranians claim they have a maneuverable missile that's harder to detect. YECHIEL LEITER, ISRAELI AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED STATES: The Iranians have a large arsenal of ballistic missiles. We have some (INAUDIBLE) defense systems, anti-missile defense systems, but they're not hermetically sealing the skies. So, there's about 10 to 15 percent of these ballistic missiles that get through. We sustained significant attacks last night. We have over 10 fatalities and hundreds wounded. RADDATZ: And Prime Minister Netanyahu said -- what -- what they have done to Iran so far is nothing compared to what is coming. Tell us what you can about that. And is Iran's supreme leader off the target list? LEITER: I think it's fair to say that nobody who's threatening the destruction of Israel should be off the target list. But we're not going to discuss specific individuals, you know, online. The idea is to neutralize and terminate the Iranian intention of destroying Israel through nuclear weapons and through ballistic missiles. And anybody who gets in the way of that, or -- or is actually advancing, that cause of destroying Israel is obviously somebody we're going to have to deal with. RADDATZ: That's a very big lift. Obviously, you hit some generals, you hit nuclear scientists. LEITER: Well, we hit -- we hit the top of the line in terms of the generals, the IRGC and the army. They're in a bit of chaos now. There is a breakdown in the chain of command, but we have more coming. RADDATZ: And do you believe these strikes have significantly set back the nuclear program? That was the reason you went after Iran. Has the nuclear program been set back? There are those who are skeptical that it has not, including former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak. He said Israel cannot delay Iran's nuclear program by a significant time period. LEITER: Well, he was prime minister many years ago for a short time. I don't think he's privy today to the intel that we have. Yes, we've set them back dramatically, but not enough. And that's why this series of strikes is not going to end today or tomorrow, but only at a period of time, which may take weeks, when we are absolutely certain that the nuclear infrastructure, with the intention of weaponizing and threatening Israel, is terminated. RADDATZ: Well, let's talk about Fordo. It's deep in a mountainside. There are those who do not believe you can destroy Fordo without U.S. help and those bunker-busting bombs. Is it possible without U.S. help? LEITER: The help that we've asked from the United States is confined to defensive posture. We're very, very thankful to President Trump and the administration for the THAAD missile, anti-missile defense system, for the Aegis missile defense system, but it's only in a defensive posture. We have a number of contingencies, will -- which will enable us to deal with Fordo. Not everything is a matter of, you know, taking to the skies and bombing from afar. RADDATZ: But you're certain you can wipe out Fordo? LEITER: We're certain -- we're -- we're certain that we can set back the nuclear weapons system development within Iran for a very, very long time. RADDATZ: How do you avoid this war escalating? The president saying overnight that if Iran hits the U.S. assets they will feel the full force of the U.S. military. How do you contain this war? LEITER: Martha, the objective is not to contain the war. The objective is to win the war. Look, 80 years ago we had a little man with a mustache running around Europe that nobody believed him when he said he was going to destroy the Jewish people. We lost 6 million. Now we've got a crazed new Hitler running around the Middle East saying he's going to destroy us. We have to take him at face value. That's his intention. He says it every day. He's got a concrete plan to destroy us. This isn't a joke. This is very serious for us. It's existential. RADDATZ: The U.S. was in the middle of negotiations. President Trump talked about that. He did not want you to take action while these negotiations were going on. He said overnight, we can still easily get a deal done between Iran and Israel and end this bloody conflict. Is that true? Do you want a deal? LEITER: Well, actually, Friday -- Friday morning the president was actually quite gratulatory over our initial strikes, and he did write clearly that he knew about our intentions. So, look, if the president can -- RADDATZ: But -- but what does that mean, because he said he didn't want you to strike? LEITER: That -- that -- that -- well -- well -- well, no, actually, he was congratulatory about our strike. RADDATZ: After the strike. LEITER: He wants -- he wants the nuclear program in Iran to be halted in its entirety. He said it very clearly, dismantle the centrifuges, dismantle the infrastructure, and stop in total the enrichment of uranium. So, if that can be achieved through negotiation, so be it. We'll be very happy. But it hasn't been. And it was actually on the 61st day, after the president gave him 60 days, that we struck. RADDATZ: If you don't reach a deal, what is the exit strategy here? What is the end game? It will not stop until the nuclear program is completely destroyed? LEITER: The nuclear program and the ballistic missile program. The missiles that they're firing -- firing into Israel now are ballistic missiles with a tremendous payload. They create tremendous damage. And, as a matter of fact, the Supreme leader of Iran has said repeatedly that if he fires thousands of ballistic missiles into Israel, we're a small county and there's nothing we can do other than die. Well, we're not going to die. We're not going to allow these ballistic missiles to continue to hit Israel. And we're going to do what we have to do to defend our country. RADDATZ: OK, thanks for joining us this morning, Mr. Ambassador. We appreciate your time. LEITER: Good to be with you, Martha. Thank you. MARTHA RADDATZ, ABC 'THIS WEEK' CO-ANCHOR: And let's get more now from former CENTCOM commander, General Joseph Votel, who oversaw U.S. military planning in the Middle East. It's good to see you this morning. General, you're obviously very familiar with Iran's capabilities. Has any of this surprised you? And do they have some sort of maneuverable missile that is creating these problems? GEN. JOSEPH VOTEL (RET.), FORMER CENTCOM COMMANDER: Thanks, Martha. It's great to be with you. I mean, certainly, Iran has been on a path for a long time to develop capabilities that could hold the region -- in particular, to hold Israel at risk. So, I think we have to take this seriously. I don't know the full dimensions of everything that they have in their own capability right now, but I think we're pretty confident in the fact that they've continued to enrich uranium and that they have developed sophisticated ballistic missiles and the mating of those two things I think poses a significant threat to Israel and, of course, to the remainder of the region. It has to be taken seriously. RADDATZ: And, General, the ambassador told me a short time ago that 15 percent of the missiles are breaking through air defenses in Israel and also the U.S. is helping, as you know. That seems like a very high number and could create real problems. VOTEL: Yeah, I think -- I think this is what Iran is counting on, is that they're -- the Iron Dome -- Iron Dome system, as good as it is, is not completely failsafe. And so, when you launch a lot of missiles, a lot of drones, inevitably, some of those are going to get through. And they're, as we -- as we've seen, just in the last 24 hours, they're going to hit populated areas, they're going to cause casualties. And Iran is counting on that and hoping that that will put pressure on the Israeli administration to stop doing what they're doing. RADDATZ: And in terms of taking out Iran's nuclear facilities, the ambassador seems quite confident that they can significantly delay the nuclear program. Do you agree with that? And especially Fordow -- if they don't take out Fordow, where are -- where are they? VOTEL: Yeah. I think -- as I've been watching the targeting effort over the last couple days, I mean, I think Israel has a very sophisticated approach to this. I think they've -- they're executing, and I think they've got a long list of things that they're going to go after, and they're going to get to all of them. They've focused very deliberately on removing the ability for the Iranians to see or to protect themselves. They've made it very difficult for the Iranians to respond effectively by removing a lot of their leadership and going after their missile capabilities. And they're focusing on the object of the primary concern which is the nuclear weapons program. And going after something like Fordow, the underground -- the major underground facilities is going to be difficult. But, of course, a facility like Fordow underground is dependent on a lot of infrastructure. So, there's a lot of damage. There are a lot of things that Iran can go after that can have a direct and indirect impact on the centrifuges in Fordow and could certainly delay the program without necessarily have to go in and destroy everything underground. RADDATZ: But you say delay, so you're confident they couldn't destroy it without the help of the U.S.? VOTEL: Well, I don't know the full range of all capabilities that the -- that the Israelis have, their very sophisticated, savvy military. There are lots of tools that are available to them. I think the conventional wisdom is that the bunker busters, the penetrating munitions that are needed to go after something like this are largely still within the inventory of the United States. So, yeah, I think -- I think -- I think probably would have some difficulty at doing that and again, the Iranians are demonstrating some level of resolve here. And we can't dismiss the fact that they will continue to pursue this program or even try to make a dash to take what they have now and try to -- try to create some kind of weapon. RADDATZ: And, General, of course, we have 40,000 troops in the region. President Trump overnight said, basically, look out, don't hit those troops or you're in big trouble. You'll feel the full force of the U.S. military. How concerned are you about that and what kind of response would you expect if they do? VOTEL: Yeah. I -- obviously, I think everyone should be concerned about that. I take some confidence in the fact that we have a very skillful commander. General Kurilla has been in place for over three years, and he's one of our finest war fighters and a very experienced commander, knows exactly what he's doing, has great relationships and really understands the region. I think if U.S. assets, U.S. military or embassies or other things are attacked, I would expect that there would a very swift response to that by the United States as there should be. That -- I think we have to send a very, very clear message. I think the administration's been doing that. I think our military has been doing that. But I would expect that if there is any fallout that has an impact on U.S. interest, that will be met with a very swift and capable response. RADDATZ: And how likely do you think it is that this war spreads, that this becomes a regional war involving the U.S.? VOTEL: Yeah. I think this largely depends on the directions that the leaders of both of these countries go. It's not particularly in Iran's interest to try to spread this, that they don't need to earn the anger of others in the region. They ultimately have to -- have to live there. So, it doesn't necessarily make a lot of sense for them to widen that. But again, as this progresses as op -- as the Iranians run out of options, and they don't have a lot of great options right now, frankly. They're fighting a little bit blind in terms of what they're doing. They don't have great options. And as they run out of the things that are available to them right now and they begin to reach out and look for other ways to have an impact, that's when I think the concern for regionalization of the conflict becomes greatest. RADDATZ: Okay. Thanks so much for joining us this morning. General, it's always good to see you. Coming up -- VOTEL: Good to be with you, Martha.
